Speaker Technology over the last 10 years

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.

There are a few companies using field coil technology again these days.

Some vendors that have been around for awhile have offered evolutionary tweaks to their designs that perhaps offer more refinement.

You can certainly spend more than ever on new speakers these days if you like.

Nothing really revolutionary though that moves what is possible to a new major level that I can think of.