vintage versus modern speakers

02-09-15: Runnin
Bomb, at the end of the day, your following comment says all one needs to know about your bias.

I've owned a few modern day speakers & if I find one today that sounds like real music, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it….

Runnin, I'm afraid I don't understand how this shows a bias??? Please explain to me & all of us. Thanks.

I thought my Ess Heils were the absolute best. I also had Kefs which were nice . For me it was a pair of Hanks Honkers made in Berkley Cal .These were comprised of huge JBL drivers in an enclosure made with 2x4s and 1 inch plywood. They were great when driven by my Macintosh loud or soft.

Wow! Wow! Wow!
Thank you for the info all of you gentlemen and Ladies!
I still think that 80-90 speakers are better than modern! Example: Paul Klipsch=23 patents in the field! Any modern cad software computer "GURU" engineer that can say the same? Bob Carver? The whole dedicate team at Yamaha/Sony/JBL/Klipsch/ not bothered by any ancillaries expenses to take into account, but with the sole mission of developing and building the absolute best speaker possible, from a SONIC point of view, because they had unlimited budgets? Yes , I admit, the design is boring, unlike some atrocities that I have seen today! The point is that those companies, such as Sony, Klipsch, Carver, etc.. during the late 70 through early 2000 were driven by sound, not by esthetics, design, marketing and the such.
Just my two cents. Remember, I am just the cook!
The last question is :
VOLTAGE PARADIGM ? can anyone explain in everyday terms?
And by the way, I have changed and refoamed some speakers.
Looking right now at Infinity and Klipsch Vintage speakers.
Thank you.

To me, it is not only the speaker itself that matters, but also the amplifiers that will work well with the particular speaker. I personally don't like the sound of most high powered amps, both tube and solid state, and so both efficiency and how easy a load the speaker presents to the amp matters a lot. Most modern speakers, even those that are quite efficient (e.g., Wilsons), are not at all compatible with the amps that I like. Is it the sound of the Magico speaker that I don't like; is it the sound of the amp being used to driver the Magico that I don't like; does it matter which is the root cause?

While it is a good thing that advances in materials and design keep coming along (this affords designers a much wider range of options), it is not always the case that the latest design/material is the best option for a particular implementation. As a very rough generalization, I still prefer the sound of woofers with paper cones and pleated paper surrounds that have VERY short excursion capability. Yes, this does limit acoustic output at the very lowest frequencies, and it does require use of very large cabinets, but, I like the variety of tone and texture to the bass and lower midrange that is afforded by such drivers. There are current manufacturers that make cost is no object speakers that could be made with any kind of driver available that utilize such "old" technology (an absurdly expensive example is the Living Voice flagship).

Bombbaywalla, I agree with much/most of what you say.
To my ears though one guy who does get things right with off the wall design is Anthony Gallo.
Any thoughts on him?