Speakers 10 years old or older that can compete with todays best,

@mikelavigne 

That itch is tough to ignore. Sometimes the newer system winds up being worse! 

Speakers like that are very expensive to make and the market for them is limited. There is certainly a point of diminishing returns and you are well past it. Once you are use to that amount of bass power it is hard to revert to something smaller. You might try working with them, not just changing amps or other electronics. The two most difficult parts of speaker design are the enclosures, which I seriously doubt you want to mess with and the crossovers which you can easily play with, for fun! You might just surprise yourself. DEQX is recruiting 120 audiophiles to beta test the programming of their new processor, the Pre 8. It has a programmable 4 way digital crossover in it. Retail in the US is going to be $13K but they are giving them to the beta testers for $6K. Cheap entertainment! I do not think they have yet reached 120. Have a look at it. https://www.deqx.com/

My Dunlavy SC 3'S that I bought in the late 90's will kick the crap out of all these current speakers, with there built in amps and sophisticated cabinets.  I've upgraded all amps, preamps and digital, and these speakers still sing like birds.  

You might just surprise yourself. DEQX is recruiting 120 audiophiles to beta test the programming of their new processor, the Pre 8. It has a programmable 4 way digital crossover in it. Retail in the US is going to be $13K but they are giving them to the beta testers for $6K. Cheap entertainment! I do not think they have yet reached 120. Have a look at it. https://www.deqx.com/

@mijostyn

not a chance.

my room is epic, my set-up and room tuning is epic, any sort of dsp would be wasted and regressive in my particular room and signal path. no matter the acronym.

the only advantage to a new set of speakers is the theoretical idea that a new speaker has evolutionary better performance. one of my large concerns is whether i can accomplish as fine a speaker<->room integration again. it took me 9 months before....and that was after i was in my new 'perfect' room for 11 years improving it.

@mikelavigne 

not a chance.

my room is epic, my set-up and room tuning is epic, any sort of dsp would be wasted and regressive in my particular room and signal path. no matter the acronym

Seems a logical assessment. Could very possibly  be a backwards move.​​​​​​

Charles 

@mikelavigne those things are bigger than my apartment! 🤣