Sweet F all has changed regarding Speakers in the last 20, 30, 40, and even 50 years ! Materials may have "improved" things which goes without saying. But unconventional thinking on how to best reproduce sound hasn't done anything special IMHO. Where are the Bose's, Magnepan's, Tannoy's, Quad's, Martin Logan's (and many others) in today's Audio Marketplace ?
Open Baffle isn't a new idea either (and I'm a fanboy) but there's more being done in that area of sound reproduction than anywhere else.WRT to Speakers. We still listen to boxes with an without holes/port tubes/slots/tx lines and so forth.
My collection has Bose 901's, KEF 105/3's, a pair of tiny Ohm's, and my Open Baffle Debacles with stacked dual 15" Subwoofers/Woofers (depending on how I drive them).