2. speakers
  3. 125362-293

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
inna
7,923 posts
 
" More sound out of smaller boxes" is a great advancement.
The horn speakers. There are many who won't listen to them, either vintage or modern.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,793 posts
 
I assume we're talking about home audio speakers.   

Sound overall all at large outdoor concert venues has increased greatly.   So better things seem possible at the largest scale.   


Most home home listening rooms aren't any larger today than years ago so not as great a challenge to max out what can be done there.  
terry9
2,354 posts
 
ESL's. Walker's originals were very musical, but today's ESL's are cleaner, more dynamic, with an extra octave top and bottom. Magnepans are another innovation. Especially with cost-no-object aftermarket parts.

What about MBL?

erik_squires
16,714 posts
 
Well, efficiency without resorting to an electromagnet based speaker is one big issue compared to that design! :) Unplug them from the wall outlet and they are mute.

Horns themselves have improved quite a bit in terms of distortion, extension and coverage.  I don't care how good those sounded, I have no place for them in my house.

But, are we talking home speakers or professional speakers?  It's unfair to compare one to the other.

In particular, one big benefit a lot of well made auditorium size speakers still have is lack of compression, and especially thermally related compression, than their consumer counterparts.

BUT!! Here's another way to look at it. Find me a speaker from the 1930's that occupied no more than 2 square feet of floor space that sounds anywhere near as good as a current pair of Monitor Audio Silver floor standers.


analogluvr
859 posts
 
No by moving away from high efficiency we have been moving backwards. 
More to discover