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Have speakers really improved within the last 20 years??

Question:

  • If there is one measurement that would prove that speakers have indeed got better over the last 20 years, what would it be? 

I dont just want one example of a speaker from today that has a better measurement than another speaker from 20 years ago because that could just be a coincidence. I want to see IRREFUTABLE PROOF that most speakers today have a measured performance in at least one area that is better than most speakers 20 years ago.

When I look at a typical bookshelf speaker from 20 years ago versus one from today i see little difference. All i see is a wooden box, typically mdf with a pair of drivers in 'em. There would be a small crossover circuit inside and a bit of foam inside the box and that would be the end of the story. I would like to believe that speakers have gotten better but I see no reason to believe it. All I see is that speakers may have gotten brighter and brighter with time to dupe us into thinking we are hearing more detail. 

This challenge is open to any audiophile or speaker designer reading this.
kenjit
kenjit OP
1,771 posts
 

Better is in the eyes/ears of the beholder.

That is not true. A speaker has a job to do. Its job is to reproduce the signal going into it as perfectly as possible. If you put a 50hz sine wave into a speaker and it produces a 60hz and 70hz sine wave then the speaker is BAD and this has nothing to do with what your opinion of it might be.

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nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,907 posts
 
I have the right to believe that speakers have not improved unless proven otherwise. 
My take on this is that this is crazy talk. That's all.


reven6e
44 posts
 
First of all let’s start with a definition. 
Paranoid personality disorder (PPD) is a mental illness characterized by paranoid delusions, and a pervasive, long-standing suspiciousness and generalized mistrust of others. People with this personality disorder may be hypersensitive, easily insulted, and habitually relate to the world by vigilant scanning of the environment for clues or suggestions that may validate their fears or biases. They are eager observers. 

They tend to be guarded and suspicious and have quite constricted emotional lives. Their reduced capacity for meaningful emotional involvement and the general pattern of isolated withdrawal often lend a quality of schizoid isolation to their life experience. People with PPD may have a tendency to bear grudges, suspiciousness, tendency to interpret others' actions as hostile, persistent tendency to self-reference, or a tenacious sense of personal right. Patients with this disorder can also have significant comorbidity with other personality disorders (such as schizotypal, schizoid, narcissistic, avoidant and borderline).

Please prove to me irrefutably that you don’t suffer from the above. Every single one of your thread starters demonstrates suspiciousness and generalised mistrust in the industry. A tenacious sense of personal right. And zero emotional involvement. 
reven6e
44 posts
 
Which takes me to the next point. Psychoacoustics. Music. Sound reproduction. The objective sound wave and the PERCEPTION, the emotion derived. I am not a microphone, an oscilloscope, an instrument. I react emotionally to the music played through my system. Please quantify emotion, quantity and quality. 
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