Speaker Technology over the last 10 years

I was re-reading Revrob's original post.

I purchased my last pair of speakers 3 months ago and they are over 10 years old (original Verity Parsifals). In fact, the design probably dates to the mid-90's. After numerous monitors (Harbeth, Spendors etc) it was first full-range with a small enough footprint not to "over-power the living room" (my wife's word's). Admittedly, I was a little reluctant to invest in an older speaker and design. But, wow can these things sing. My previous speaker was a Harbeth M30; a truly excellent monitor with vocals and amazing midrange, which btw I thoroughly enjoyed (as did my wife listening to Maria Callas or Diana Krall sacd). My point, there are some high end products of the past that can be accessed for a reasonable price today. Could I have done better with a another more recent design speaker (used) for the same dollar amount? I don't know. Possibly? Clearly, there are newer iterations (evolution) of the Parsifals which sound better over this time-frame.

To Revrob's second point, the sonics of the M30s did improve every time I upgraded the electronics, especially the amplification. It was very noticeable, from better defined (and lower) bass to a smoother high end that was more detailed. This surprised me a little. The M30s were capable of more when coupled with better electronics.

anyway, my 2c worth.......

I think that some designers have maximized typically thirty to fifty year old driver designs, such as the Sander Sound electrostats, but really we have only slightly better speakers now than we have had no improvements. There is one exception. I have heard several speaker using expensive air craft aluminum cabinets that have been extraordinary. I have not been able to afford any yet and one I wanted never went into production, this was the LSA Model 10.

By contrast I think electronics have greatly improved and my speakers have revealed this improvement, meaning that the speakers were better than the driving electronics.

does anyone think great strides have been made in crossover technology, especially with the availability of a such a variety of capacitors and resistors.

is it a given that a crossover from 1969 is inferior to one designed in 2009 ?

""crossover from 1969 is inferior to one designed in 2009 ?
""

no crossover parts will help if basic of speaker(drivers matching, xover topology) is poor, but short answer is-YES new xover components is by 10-20% better(and now much more widely used than at that time) and as a bonus by 300% more expensive.

>does anyone think great strides have been made in crossover technology, especially with the availability of a such a variety of capacitors and resistors.

The passive components don't matter that much.

Inexpensive computers which can make gated measurements to provide anechoic measurements and approach a target transfer function have made a big difference.

Linkwitz also didn't publish _Passive Crossover Networks for Noncoincident Drivers_ until 1978.