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Hi end audio equip sounds better today than in decades past due to tech - T/F

I am in a hi-end audio store today, speaking with the owner, who has been in the audio business for almost 40 yrs. Super nice guy. Can talk up a storm - but as a good thing... where someone like me can learn a thing or two.

He said something that I found curious... audio equipment (pres, amps, rcvrs, speakers) sound better today than just 20 years ago, b/c ’they didn’t have the same technology back then we have today'. Why? Better materials, better components, better r/d... the stuff just sounds better in today’s world, he is telling me.

Coming from someone who doesn’t know any better.... is there any truth to this?
riffwraith
ghdprentice
7,027 posts
 
 @alexbergeri just happen to be listening to Mingus, Ah Um, one of the great albums from the late 1950s... I have lots of them... they are spectacular.

But old speakers? Really? I can’t remember anything of much merit other than Quad... the others boomy distorted high frequency. I have been delighted as one boom has been resolved into its component parts and articulated. But I haven’t listened to any old vintage speakers in decades. So what are some of these old classics that sound so great today?
alexberger
916 posts
 
Thermal Compression is a speaker voice coil heating. The voice coil impedance increasing with heat, so sensitivity goes done, crossover frequency floats. Ferrite magnets field decreasing with heat too that leads to change of Qms and Qts of speakers and bass response.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-compression-vs-thermal-distortion-loudspeaker-alexander-wilson/...

https://pearl-hifi.com/06_Lit_Archive/15_Mfrs_Publications/Harman_Int%27l/AES-Other_Publications/LS_...

Old high sensitive speakers don’t have thermal compression because need a couple of watt to drive it.
There are example of good old speakers: JBL L200, Tannoy Monitor Red and Silver Series, Altec 604, 604B, 604C, 604E, Altec VOT, RCA LC-1A.

alexberger
916 posts
 
I can understand people who don’t like vintage speakers form 50-60x.
But I moved to vintage speakers 16 years ago and I don’t regret.
These speakers suites more for acoustical music but some of them can rock too.
Old speakers are also exceptionally good for old recordings from 50-60x.

They sound more modern and audiophile when you add supertweeter on top. The same true for many electrostatic speakers as well. Vintage speakers benefit from crossover renew.
sugabooger
89 posts
 
Low cost DACs made today are superior to those costing 10x, probably 25-50x what was available 20 years ago. Many expensive DACs are a step backward in performance though you may like the way it sounds.

It is surprising how good many low cost speakers are today.

Class-D has come of age and rivals the best amplifiers. You may not like it, but they work very well. Many are even doing that with switch mode power supplies.

Bass management and room correction has grown leaps and bounds with no cost increase.
alaric62
80 posts
 

 Very good gear from any era still sounds like very good gear. What has improved the most is the availability of good gear. It is much easier to get better gear than it was 20, 30, and 40 years ago. The SQ I have today would have cost the same in the 80s. The difference being $4k-$5k was a LOT more money then. More people can afford to get closer to "high fidelity" than before.

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