vintage versus modern speakers

At your price point most of the newer and better audiophile oriented loudspeakers won't play that loudly, nor will they have that much bass. They also won't match very well with your amp. A double Advent system with refurbished drivers and crossovers can be had for $500-600 and can do things that the audiophile loudspeakers can't.

In the under $1500 price range, there are not many speakers from the 1970's and 1980's that would be worth considering; vintage models from that era that are still worth considering have actually become more expensive than their original price (e.g., 15 ohm Rogers). While some of the higher end speakers from that era might have depreciated in value enough to be a bargain, it will take some experience to identify such bargains and know whether age has not cause major deterioration (the material used on many speakers from that time period for the soft rubber surround on the drivers can turn into dust by this time).

What is amazing is that MUCH older vintage speakers at WAY above that price range are a completely different matter. There are many drivers from the late 1920's throught the 1950's that, can be turned into fantastic systems. The problem here is that many such systems are impractically large in size (the speakers were originally meant for theaters), and because their superiority is no secret, such drivers are VERY expensive. The compression/horn drivers I am talking about are made by the likes of Western Electric, IPC and RCA. If you have a chance listen to modern horn systems built around such drivers (they DO NOT sound like Klipschorns or Altec Valencias and the like). There are modern companies making very good horn drivers, such as ALES, but some of these are even more expensive than the vintage classics.

Questions:
-audiophile? what is the definition? knowing that it is a documented fact that the human auditory system is very limited in its sound listening range, and that mid range frequencies are the most "agreable" to the ear.
-speakers: are we going around and round, and splitting hairs in four widthwise? The problem is that it is very hard to find somewhere where you can listen to speakers, without a salesman obnoxious presence...
Looking at Klipschorn "La Scala", plus I saw Carmen with Maria Callas at La Scala when I was a lot younger(lol)!
Memories!
Thoughts?

Just my 2 cents......Yes, I must say the speakers of today are better then the speakers of "vintage". But like Mofimadness, I currently own Infinity RS 1B's and still admire them. If I were to replace them today....I believe I would have to spend quite a bit more (15K-40K). Since I a retired and don't have the "extra" cash around.....(except for a cruise to Bermuda) I am very happy with my speakers. But todays speakers are better.

Rick (RWD)

One thing that I've noticed by studying this conundrum, is that vintage speakers tend to be older, while modern speakers tend to be newer.
I just thought that I'd point that out.

Better, is in the ear of the beerholder. ;^)