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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I looked up the YL and saw that both of you guys were discussing this on the Hoffman forum. Someone else on one of the fora had mentioned Deja Vu recently, in connection with recreating old WE horns. 
I've been using a commercial horn system (Avantgarde Duo) for 11 years and love their strengths- the "bespoke" vintage approach fascinates me- if it could sound coherent between the bass and mids, which has always been the challenge for me. I had also seen anecdotal reports on the GIP but have not heard any of these recreations. It sounds like the YL is actually vintage recreation which is appealing if it isn't as costly as some of the WE or other early stuff.
I just got my Quad based system restored, and as noted above, within their limitations, using restored Quad IIs with real GEC glass, they are breathtaking to listen to. 
I guess on both systems, the horns (with Lamm SETs) and the Quad-Quad system, i live with their shortcomings to revel in their strengths. I wouldn't mind assembling an all out horn system, but for space and cost. 
Sidenote: sorry if I mentioned this before, but the one thing I like about the Avantgarde design is that the mid horn is run directly from the amp with no crossover. It is very transparent, and with an even better driver, this arrangement would make much sense to me-- so much is in the midrange and if you can avoid the crossover there, it would seem to allow optimal performance. The issue then becomes making the bass (and treble) cohere. 

At home I run 3-4 systems while I do run modern loudspeakers many advanced for my own enjoyment I run horn systems. Most are combinations of old and new but when I can I try  to experience the best of vintage stock. If I have stock I mod so I can reverse and return to such. My office mains are community leviathan mid bass horns with 4- 515b woofers modified TAD 2001 on a giant community 10 cell multicell horn. I use costly passive networks but otherwise this could have been set up in 1970s. I do run a massive modern sub built to look like a old RCA MI booth monitor just much larger. My main system is 2-RCA MI shearer horns Viva amp I again run audiophile passive and use with fostex t500amk2 or faital driver on small 15 cell. 3rd systems 1920s RCA W bin with RCA radial horns and drivers and faital on matching tweeter horn again modern networks I use this at times with a massive front loaded bass horn. My garage system is a giant 1920s pair of RCA horns I used the RCA drivers at times but enjoy swapping in modern drivers my RCA drivers are  95 years old and I like to keep them functioning. I am all over social media you can google search if you want far too many pics.
inna house sized no shed sized yes if you want sub bass. Still if you look at how modern loudspeakers generate bass a large horn hitting 45hz without roll off at incredibly low distortion levels pretty much trumps the  high excursion, massive power, low bass by resonance approach and its  high distortion levels, limited dynamic range and associated  fatigue factors. The horns weakness maybe in coloration but at the listening levels homes use these massive designs are just coasting along.           
Rice and Kellogg, Harry Olson,John Hilliard, John Blackburn much of whats available today they invented in the 1920s-30s thus why I started the thread how much progress has really been made when the best of today is lucky to be as good as the best at that time and is most likely a evolution of these 1930s designers work.
LarryI, thanks for the nice comments.  The last time I was at the DejaVu store, I heard a really nice sounding setup that used the YL 5500 in a big horn with a 200 Hz crossover and 15" Goodmans woofers in open baffle.  It had a Jensen RP-302 crossing in at 10K.  Voices were very realistic over these speakers.