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

I'm still loving my 20 year old Silverline Sonatina's.

Still love my Altec-Lansing 604-8G' in Model 620a Cabinets, Tannoy Berkely's and Revel Salon I's. They can match anything else I've heard at various Hi-Fi shows.

Japanese musical clubs favor altec_lansing and Tannoy too till today... Perhaps this means something....😉

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/special-report-the-japanese-audio-industry/

Still love my Altec-Lansing 604-8G’ in Model 620a Cabinets, Tannoy Berkely’s and Revel Salon I’s. They can match anything else I’ve heard at various Hi-Fi shows.

Very interesting thread. Particularly appropriate to me, as only yesterday i visited a dealer who's system was what he felt to be excellent sounding. Yet, and here's the thing, this system was a disappointment to me. Not because it did not have some good gear in it, but because the system was put together with the typical mistakes that someone who thinks they really know what they are doing, yet disregard the very basic things that separate a great sounding system from a  mediocre sounding one. For example, no consideration given to cabling, no consideration given to room acoustic treatments, no consideration give to the importance of speaker placement, and so on. One thing i have learned in this hobby over the years, is this, no matter what the listener's experience level is, the dealer always believes he/or she ( not many ladies in this scenario) has more expertise than the customer. 

@mikelavigne  You are a highly experienced a'phile, why would someone believe that they could improve your system, without a) first listening to it and then b) believe that their knowledge would trump yours??...I don't really understand this attitude from several members who have posted upstream. To these very same members, i would ask this question: Is it possible that in fact someone like Mike L could have a superior sounding system to yours...and not only that, have more experience/knowledge than you? 

I have wanted to ask this very same question to numerous dealers in this hobby, iow-- is it possible that the customer who just walked in the door, could in fact teach you something about not only system set up, but also about music itself?? 

To get back to the subject in the OP. are there speakers today that can compete with today's best? Absolutely, I think some of these speakers from the past have in fact never been bettered in some areas. Take for example, the Quad '57's. How many speakers on the market today can equal their mid-range reproduction, never mind beat them? Another example, the SF Guarneri Homage speakers that I utilize in my system, how many stand mounts can equal these today?? There are a few (maybe a handful that i know of)...but the vast majority of current stand mounts still cannot better them. 

There is a point made by RH in TAS that he recently heard the old Hill Plasmatronic speakers (with the ion tweeter), stating that the upper mids to highs were the best reproduction of these frequencies he had ever heard!! RH has heard a  lot of speakers....

@daveyf wrote:

@mikelavigne You are a highly experienced a’phile, why would someone believe that they could improve your system, without a) first listening to it and then b) believe that their knowledge would trump yours??...I don’t really understand this attitude from several members who have posted upstream. To these very same members, i would ask this question: Is it possible that in fact someone like Mike L could have a superior sounding system to yours...and not only that, have more experience/knowledge than you?

Speaking for myself and my replies to @mikelavigne I anticipated an above-like response, and it’s not without merit. Maybe I even hoped such a reply would be leveled at me/us so that I could better explain at least myself and not come across as an arrogant know-it-better, but rather that my intention was to challenge a single aspect of which I find myself to have some experience here that Mike, it appears, does not - at least not extensively with his 2-channel setup.

Yes, I would expect most everyone to find Mike’s system to be superior sounding to my own setup, and yes it wouldn’t surprise me if Mike - in a range a areas - has somewhat more knowledge and experience than I. Hopefully I made it clear that I can only assume it’s a truly great sounding system of his, and that the implementation in every regard, from all that I can assess, has been thoroughly considered and executed. The effort and time put into it all is certainly awe inspiring.

That being said it’s also problematic to blindly expect an individual with a highly sophisticated and expensive system like Mike’s is above criticism or suggestive acts of any kind. Having not listened to his setup implies both the fact that I can’t judge its sonic merits, just as well that I cannot take it for granted it’s a sound that - despite the money, time, research, effort and dedication that went into this - would blow me away in every single aspect. I’ve heard my share of über-expensive setups in homes that left me quite unimpressed; systems that sounded disjointed, uneven, stale, bloated, over-damped (more than under-damped, actually), overly detail focused, malnourished, etc. Very few of them sounded really natural to my ears, and it just goes to show that every setup, regardless of price, is a potential only, but also that personal preference varies. Preference I can deal with, but a badly implemented system is just a waste.

Nothing to me implies that Mike’s system is badly implemented, on the contrary. I merely suggested an approach, of which he apparently has no experience to speak of (and who among us has experience in every facet of audio reproduction approaches?), that could potentially lift the sonics to even higher levels of quality. From my chair it would be worth pursuing if this particular area (i.e.: outboard active configuration) is a stone unturned - not least with the ambition at play here.