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

I had these over 40 years ago. Still one of my favorite after owning many others since!!

Dahlquist DQ‑10

One should always be wary of pronouncing “firsts,” but, appearing in the early seventies, Jon Dahlquist’s DQ‑10 was to my knowledge the first dynamic speaker to employ multiple drivers in an open-baffle configuration (except the acoustic‑suspension woofer, which was enclosed) staggered for proper time‑alignment and phase coherence, in an attempt to realize the openness and freedom from boxiness that Dahlquist prized in his beloved Quad ESL-57s—with the added advantages of deeper bass and dynamic extension well beyond the Quad. (The physical resemblance to the Quad was both mandated by the design and an intentional homage.) Far from flawless (including conceptually), the DQ-10 was nevertheless a ground-breaking design that preceded dozens of subsequent speakers (perhaps most prominent among them models from KEF, B&W, Spica, Thiel, Vandersteen, and Wilson) continuing up to the present day. Few large, full-range dynamic speakers before or for some time afterward equaled its openness. Paul Seydor

interesting post!

Thanks yogiboy ...

My first speakers looked exactly like that in yogiboy's post. They needed power to be happy, but they were excellent. 

are we talking about speakers that were discontinued 10 years or more or designed 10 years or more? 

I’m guessing most 10 year old speakers vs a current model of the same speaker is probably less about technology improvement and more about slight "sound " changes depending on the speaker engineer handing the model at a given time. Just like any other industry, speaker makers need to have their buyers buying the latest and greatest. If a newer model one is better or worse, that’s a taste question. After 10 years, unless the manufacturer was using garbage materials or has some non traditional electronics involved, the speaker should perform as new (assuming owner has not abused or placed the speaker in a rough environment). If anything, the manufacturer is trying to cut cost even further while maintaining the "house" sound.