Loudspeakers have we really made that much progress since the 1930s?

You are correct, this shows a lot of experience in being rude.... That’s the point... telling people that they don’t count.... opinions without supporting experience is just noise. Read through the post, enough was said...

I’d say the point is that experience is essential in discussing how technology affects the perceived sound, as it is also vital in helping to draw a distinction between technology, its specific use, and not least of course the actual sonic outcome. I gather few would really deny the advance in technology that has been made over the years, but from many of the posts here there seems to be a tendency to conclude rather blindly this advancement will necessarily equate into better sound without paying much attention to the design and implementation per se. Seeing how johnk points this out through his remarks doesn’t strike me as being rude, but simply that he understands the terms of what is discussed.

Many advancements since then have been pointed out.   Whether one thinks those of significance or not is a matter of opinion.   But the advancements themselves are not.

Hi phusis, Thanks for the extra input, I also clearly understood the terms of what was discussed. I guess that I'm just an overly sensitive guy.  Still under my mama's old school teaching of how to talk to others.  So here you go,  more old school.  Sorry if I offended anyone, that was not my intent. 

With regards to the Shearer, while solving a lot of problems of the prior art in its day, it also had problems of its own. Many of these were addressed in the Altec VOTT designs. And they were pretty well universally acknowledged as improvements.

I ran VOTTs for a number of years. Then a friend lent me a set of FMI 80s. We set them up in the same place as occupied by the VOTTs and the improvement in imaging, nuance and bass impact was immediately apparent. Mind you, the FMI80 was a simple 2-way bookshelf speaker with an 8" woofer. The one thing that they could not do better was high volume, which one would expect.

These days the speakers I play have far more resolution than those FMI80s, far more bandwidth too, yet the efficiency is up at 98 db, allowing for that sense of power and air that you only get when the amp does not have to work for a living. So I see that as a huge improvement over the VOTTs, which were allegedly (as seen on the JBL/Altec site linked in the opening post) better than the Shearers. Now, if logic is still something you can use, that must mean that my speakers sound better in nearly every way than the Shearers. My speakers BTW are the Classic Audio Loudspeaker project T-3.2, equipped with the field coil midrange drivers. They are not the best that Classic makes, but they do fit in my room which is a plus (the T-1s do not).

I get the romantic experience that is part of the vintage scene. That romance is not just in audio; I love to ride a vintage motorbike or bicycle as well. Such things often have a certain charm. But that charm is only available through experience, regardless of the measurements.

Seems like a lot of discussion about drivers and slopes. How about cabinets, materials and resonances.