Sound quality of Newer versus Older speakers

@avanti1960 ,

"I would say speakers of today tend to be more over the line towards detail and speakers of previous eras tended to be under the line and closer to forgiving."


Isn't this the dreaded upwards tilting of the high frequencies that many loudspeaker manufacturers are still tempted to introduce for the sole effect of being more impressive in the show room?

This practice (along with tipping of the bass - the so called smiley EQ) seems to be even more common in the world of headphones where a design with a flat response is almost unheard of.

No wonder most engineers still prefer to mix on professional monitors.

I have a pair of new dynaudio contour 60. My fathers 35 years old crappy bose 505 sound more natural as my contour 60. I previously owned the Dynaudio contour 3.3 from the late 90’ which sounded far more natural as the contour 60. I believe there are a lot of modern speakers which sound more natural and balanced as the dynaudio 3.3 but i did the wrong choice.
What i’m sure is that at parity of investment you will get a better sound by buying older speakers. You find very good, top of the line speakers from 20 years ago for 1500 euro....to match the quality of those speakers with a new product you probably have to spent 10 or even 15.000 Euro. The contour 3.3 i owned costed me 1200 euro and they sounded ubelivably better (from every point of view) as the 10.000 Euro Contour 60. Speakers have a very long lifecycle.

My Mission Cyrus 781 at 50 bucks used (1989) are so good, that in spite of their limitations, i like them more than most speakers i have listen to but BECAUSE my room is under control....Before my acoustic control their sound was not so great...i was thinking to an upgrade then... 😁

These vintage speakers, British, were neutral but leaning toward a warm sound, they present details but not with harshness and no microscopic details floating and detached from the sound flow like very high resolution speakers which in almost any room are fatiguing... For someone listening loud music a few minutes it is spectacular.... But i listen music for 5 hours in a row sometimes more in a day.... I forget to say that in good acoustical settings their bass is so good that i dont need a sub woofer at all... I own one disconnected from day one … 😁 they are not so big but fill my room completely 3-d....

Name me a better speakers for 50 bucks or under 2000 dollars? Good luck.....Then anybody speaking against vintage speakers is rich in money or dont know what a good speaker is designed for....

Most people think they have  listened to their speakers for years, they will die never knowing that they have listened to their room all along...

This truth is unbelievable especially for those who already think that their room is ok....But all small room need not only passive treatment but more importantly active controls to help the speakers to work at his peak unimpeded....

I repeat that for the newcomers who will think about it.... For the others it is too late and unbelievable anyway...

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Newer, by far.  Cone materials are far superior, even more so at the lower end of the spectrum. Ditto techniques for reducing varying inductance effects.  Better capacitors.  Far less cabinet resonances. More consistent dispersion.