Seasoned ears only

My current speakers are around 20 years old. I've heard many current models, some of them in my own home on my own equipment, and don't feel the need to change.
I feel a good design is still a good design. If well executed, I don't see a reason why it won't sound good today. The only thing that might spoil the party are ageing parts, especially on electrostatic speakers.

Speakers have gotten better, but progress is gradual -- so gradual that the best speakers of 20 or 30 years ago can still satisfy. After all, they were great to listen to then. And there are great bargains to be had, if you're prepared to deal with problems of aging and parts availability. The safest approach may be to buy something that was made within the last 10 years or so -- not likely to have problems, parts are probably available, technology hasn't improved all that much, but you can get a good bargain by buying something off the "have to have the latest" crowd. On the other hand, if you're willing to put in some elbow grease, I'll hazard that you can come pretty damn close to a pair of Magicos or anything else for not much more than pocket change.

Progress is also not even across an entire industry. The best speakers of 25 years ago will still be better than mediocre speakers of today, often regardless of cost. OTOH, mediocre speakers of years ago will only seem worse with time.

Most Loudspeaker do perform better today still the best of vintage can be very satisfying performers. I collect vintage and some of the transducers are very well designed. Mostly compression drivers from the past are equal to or better than many modern designs. Some coaxial and woofers but most of the rest cabinets crossovers tweeters etc are not equal to modern designs.

My ears are well seasoned,and the rest of me is too!

Seriously here's my take on some of the speakers you are considering.

I have owned stacked Quad 57's, the 63,Acoustat3 medallian,Martin Logan Sequel 2, 2 pairs of CLS 11z,Tannoy Ardens, Merlin MMex,Meadowlark Heron i, Mirage m3si,original VR4(my friend still has his)orignal 15 ohm Rogers LS3/5a, Mission 770(still have a pair)and Ref 3A Grand Veena-maybe some others I've forgotten.

When I owned the VR4 I used the Blue Circle mono block BC2 amps and the sound was very good.My friend uses mono block Lumley tube amps on his VR4, and he's kept them since they came out.
His speakers in his system sound better now since he acquired a more powerful(Lumley 100 watters) than what he was using before(also tube amps, 2 Grant lumleys biamped using el34 not kt 88 as in the monos).

So to get the best out of the VR4, don't cheap out of the power is my best advice.Give them the juice and if it's clean and powerful you should be happy for the long run.

I have heard of some folks who used to run a couple of Bryston 4B on the VR4 at high volume levels and they said this was heaven.To each his own I suppose.

Compared to the above speakers which I have owned and if my sonic memory can be trusted,I would say that the original VR4 still is a good speaker.Perhaps not as precise as some of the stats , but certainly a lot more robust.

Spred them wide apart, if I remember correctly and damp the two sections with a slab of some inert material and spikes.I ran Cardas Hex 5c single run and Cardas Hex 5c one metre jumpers when I had the 4's.
My friend uses Cardas biwired golden ref.whic h sounds better than the Kimber 4tc he was using, so try some good wires on the 4's.

Have fun.