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

I've had a similar experience to the OP. I've been to 3 audio shows in the last few years and I have determined that it would take a huge amount of money to beat my current late 90's system - Thiel CS6 speakers, Krell KRC-2 and KSA 300S. These speaker are about 25 years old and when I come home and play the same tracks I heard at the show I sit there and shake my head in disbelief. Except for a very few speakers (MBL 101E Mk II or Von Schweikert Ultra 11's for example) my Thiels hold up against pretty much anything.

I have listened to rooms where the cabling and power conditioning cost more than my entire system and I wasn't impressed. BTW, I am lucky to have a large listening room but I haven't done any audiophile room treatment. I have lots of absorption and diffusion (book shelves, CD shelves, equipment racks, couch, chair, ottoman, desk, etc) and when I play a good recording the speakers absolutely disappear. I've had non-audiophile friends listen slack jawed and finally ask me, "how does it do that?"

I honestly don't think that the state of the art in playback has progressed much in the last 25 years unless you get into 6 figure components. There are a lot of wealthy people in the world who will pay big bucks for something that they can show off to their friends but an audiophile of modest means can put together a killer system for a reasonable amount of money.

Compared to forty years ago, most speaker companies are nothing more than cabinet makers that toss in off the shelf drivers. A year ago, I read a rave review of some $1800 a pair PSB speakers then did a check at Madisound and found they spent under $100 for all the drivers, the tweeters were about $30.

Oh, I’m sure all were “modified” for the builder.

I don’t know of any modern speakers that can outperform my full range acoustat 2+2, ADS 1230 or my energy Veritas 2.8’.
I have some custom built speakers that are modern ( 5 years old?) with $500 RAAL tweeters, they’re still not as good as the ‘stats or the 2.8’s, so much for modern… 

+1Avalon and Tidal. The Rockport Arrakis is definitely one as well. Not made any more and I haven’t heard it but they get immense praise on the forums. 

Lots I’m sure but Ohm Walsh series 3 and newer come to mind. Probably series 2 as well. It’s only the originals that came about in the early 80s that I can assert with confidence were not current big-league competitive. Those come up a bit short on resolution detail and accuracy. Many have been upgraded by users since which fixes that.

Comparing one’s own system to speakers heard at audio shows, stores, or even other people’s listening rooms is questionable at best. To know if some product might improve the SQ of one’s own system requires auditioning it at home for at least a week’s worth of critical listening.

That said, I own Von Schweikert, PSB and Magneplanar speakers (all full-range floor standers) and half a dozen lesser monitors; I’ve auditioned Martin Logan "The Quest" and three different iterations of B&Ws, each for weeks. Finally, friends in our local audio club have uncompromising rigs of various kinds: stacked Quads, Harbeths, Dynaudios, KEFs, MBL 101 Radialstrahlers in a specially constructed listening "room" built in consultation with an acoustician that is larger and more opulent than most people’s entire homes.... And yet, I have not found anything I prefer to my Scientific Fidelity "Teslas," built in the early 1990s. A bad review in Stereophile pretty much killed the company. Recently, Bill Legall at Millersound restored the drivers for me. They cost a mere $1000 in 1992 (I got them used), and they even look great. My second system has settled on the Magneplanar 1.6 QRs installed in an acoustically treated room just right for them, but the Teslas in my living room remain my favorites.