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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
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sunrayjack12's avatar
sunrayjack12
33 posts
 
Those old guys with their slide rules and a ton of common sense sure made amazing things back in the day.
 Could we today make 1/3 of the advances ,if it were not for the the birth of computers from guys with slide rules.
I have a house full of imperfect vintage two channel speakers with big horns, cabinets and 15" drivers and many diy builds of equal quality.
I would not trade them for any of the new stuff, not saying the new stuff is bad, I just don't hear what I want out of them.
As far as distortion from the stages back in the day, I believe that has a lot to do with everybody on the stage trying to be heard at the same time with their amps.
I have quite going to live concerts because the sound is so bad.
http://postimg.org/gallery/zslbczg4/
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Modern tweeters are excellent but almost all share an Achilles heal - ferrofluid! The stuff dries up over several years or sooner if you drive the speakers hard. It is insidious in that the change often occurs slowly so you get used to the sound as it changes. With the loss of ferrofluid damping, tweeters designed to function best with ferrofluid will sound harsh and dull or honky.
erik_squires
16,180 posts
 
Not as many high-end dome or ring tweeters have ferrofluid as they used to plus Air Motion Transformer (AMT, i.e. Heil) and ribbon tweeters have no need.

Not including ferrofluid can also lower the resonant frequency of a tweeter, allowing it to be crossed over lower than otherwise.

Best,

Erik


tmare
44 posts
 
Very interesting read. Thank you, guys.
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johnk OP
1,975 posts
 
The question was have we made much progress since the 30s not whats best or what fits homes best or what costs least or what modern consumers enjoy today but have we made much progress since and I still feel we have not since this is what my experience shows. This is not my bias towards collecting or vintage I design modern have for many years before I got into vintage to learn about the past. Didn't get into vintage because I thought it would perform better I honestly thought it wouldn't but was proven wrong. If a 30s loudspeaker design with slight changes can compete with the best of modern I know of no other field were that maybe true. Thus why I posted.
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