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


Since I have a slight grasp on the history or loudspeaker design. And what is possible with modern. I do wonder if we have really made that much progress. I have access to some of the most modern transducers and design equipment. I also have  large collection of vintage.  I tend to spend the most time listening to my 1930 Shearer horns. For they do most things a good bit better than even the most advanced loudspeakers available. And I am not the only one to think so I have had a good num of designers retailers etc give them a listen. Sure weak points of the past are audible. These designs were meant to cover frequency ranges at the time. So adding a tweeter moves them up to modern performance. To me the tweeter has shown the most advancement in transducers but not so much the rest. Sure things are smaller but they really do not sound close to the Shearer.  http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/lmco/shearer.htm
johnk
1930s the largest corps in the world spent significant resources on loudspeaker development. Today very small corps invest small sums reinventing much of what was designed then.
Fabulous. Unfortunately, many of the vintage horn systems are expensive, but compared to the cost of some uber gear today, may not be so crazy. I went to a modern horn/SET implementation a decade ago. I'm intrigued by the vintage stuff. 
Hi John,
    I assume that you started this thread for the sake of discussion, you know the drill as much as anyone.... So, I'm not going deeply to leave room for discussion out there....  As you know math is math. That and how a loudspeaker works hasn't changed.  What has changed is manufacturing technics,  manufacturing tolerances, materials Used (Neo magnets, cast basket materials, cone materials, crossover parts etc.)  Designs have improved some, (underhung magnets Domes, Ribbons and plenty of other things) .... So, plenty of improvements, but that doesn't mean that there weren't some  very good things produced through the years.  Every old speaker out there that I have worked on, I have been able to improve upon in some way with modern crossover parts or dampening material or coating a driver etc.