Are Today's Speakers Better?

[Porscheguy]

Are today's speakers better than ones manufactured 15 or 20 years ago? Do they benefit from more efficient manufacturing? Better testing? Materials? Do they sound better? Lower distortion drivers than in the ole days?

Is a $2500 pair loudspeakers manufactured today a better product than a $2000.00 pair made in the 90's?

What say you?

[stuofsci02]

Depends on what you like...

I think todays speakers benefit from better driver technology which allows smaller drivers to do more.

[browe1967]

I don't know. My klipsch CF-1s I bought in 94. I think they sound just as good today as they did then. $1300 then, who knows how much that would be today.

Of course I don't have much to compare them too but they still rock!

[Porscheguy]

Feb 24, 2011 19:16:22 GMT -5 browe1967 said:

I don't know. My klipsch CF-1s I bought in 94. I think they sound just as good today as they did then. Of course I don't have much to compare them too but they still rock!

Thats my point. I wondered if I brought a new pair $2500 of "some really well reviewed speaker" into my room and compared them to my Snell C/V ($2600 in 1996)

Would there be a big diff? I'm always thinking how good my speakers sound - but they are my only real point of reference day in day out.

[browe1967]

It would be nice to get a current pair of nice speakers to compare them too. But who has $2000 to play with these days, not me.

[jdskycaster]

Interesting question but I think all areas of audio benefit from advancements in technology and manufacturing processes. I sold my 25 year old Infinity Kappa's that were (and still are) considered very good speakers. I sold them for what I paid for them 25 years ago but I think their current replacements outperform them in every way including the most important factor I use to evaluate everything I own which is price/performance.

JD

[jdskycaster]

Snell makes some great sounding speakers. Not sure you would find much if anything for under $2K per pair today that would significantly outperform them. Never hurts to go out and audition but if you find speakers that you really like stick with them until something else that fits your budget blows you away. Otherwise you will continue to make small incremental gains while quickly emptying your savings account. That's why it took me so many years to finally sell the Kappa's.

JD

[Deleted]

Big improvements in the "motor" of speakers so that there is less high order distortion (and low order for that matter). My Vifa aluminum tweeters that I was so fond of are obsolete today, along with the focal drivers I had that have just awful distortion performance compared with today's drivers. I remember building an mtm system using Vifa drivers (speakers featured in the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook). I thought they were great back then but even cheaper drivers perform better now. I don't know what area electronics has really improved outside of surround sound technologies and semi-automatic setting of eq and such. Subs using professional amps have certainly improved things from the days when I ran 100 watts to a sub and thought it was a lot. Improvements are more obvious in more expensive drivers such as the Revelator series from Scan-Speak. Prices for good drivers have competition now (unfair that is) from China with their cranking out clones of Scandinavian designs. This really has me conflicted as I want to support the designers but don't have much money. All my equipment except my main speakers were made in China.

[NorthStar]

Loudspeakers are like lovers; changing them could be good, and it could also be worse! ;D

* Me I'll stick with my $1,200/pair of lovers from 1987-88, and their smooth sound from that soft dome tweeter, wide dispersion, and clean 24 Hz!
Not too many speakers at this price range can play cleanly that low! No way Jose!

[mrarnold58]

I think speakers have improved, especially when cost is considered. I judge this by listening to some of my 20 year old speakers compared to my newer ones. My 20+ year old Legacy 1s would outperform almost any speaker at it's price point when they were new. Now, not so much. They are still good, but not head and shoulders above similar priced speakers today. Maybe my tastes and hearing has changed over time, too.

However, haven't most things improved over the last 20 years?

[mrarnold58]

One other thing, if I did the math correctly, a $2,000 speaker in 1990 would be equivalent to $3,500 in 2011 when inflation is added. How many $2,000 speakers from 1990 would outperform a $3,500 speaker today? Not many in my estimation.

[Deleted]

My vintage Mirage M3-si were $2800 a pair in 1993. I have put them up against several newcomers (with the same electronics) in the $1000 - $3000 range but so far, the Mirage wins hands down. Nothing official nor scientific, just my perceptions. Obviously $2800 in 1993 is was worth more than what I've compared them too, so maybe I need to hear something in the $3500-$4000 range.

I''m sure there are better speakers out there today but I'm not sure at what price I would have to pay. I participate in several other audio forums and I have the same signature, and I receive a PM at least one or two times a month asking if I would sell these Mirage. Although I am by no means an expert, I take this as a good sign that these speakers are still noteworthy.

The Snells and Infinity Kappas mention above are excellent examples of speakers that still perform after all these years and retain much of their original value. YMMV

[briank]

I think speakers have improved only marginally, but electronic have improved substantially. Now if my bank account would improve substantially then all would be good. :-)

[NorthStar]

One thing though; our hearing doesn't improve over the years, so that has to be also considered into the equation.

[stiehl11]

Well, if I did the ratio correctly; my PC-3 from 2000 would be about $750 (MSRP) today. They would totally own every speaker out there at that price range. Compared with B&W CM9 series for $1,600 (MSRP) and they're not even in the same league. However, a new pair of Revell ran close to my 10 year old PC-3s and between the 2 speakers completely out classed the CM9s. Make no mistake, B&W makes some fine speakers but the company really sells their name in the lower speakers (I was impressed with the 600 series for the prices I saw).

[thielguy]

I think that tech has improved - both in modeling to allow for better drivers to be designed on screen, and then tested & tweaked in the real world.

On the electronic's side, I would think yes again - tigher tolerance capacitors, resistors, etc...

[Emo-Bob]

Feb 24, 2011 18:57:54 GMT -5 Porscheguy said:

Are today's speakers better than ones manufactured 15 or 20 years ago? Do they benefit from more efficient manufacturing? Better testing? Materials? Do they sound better? Lower distortion drivers than in the ole days?

Is a $2500 pair loudspeakers manufactured today a better product than a $2000.00 pair made in the 90's?

What say you?

I'm not sure about Floor Standing types, it might not change much, but I DO know for sure, that the smaller cabinets these days are far superior to those of the past. The 'Definitive Tech Mythos 2' is an excellent example. With that being said, they still work best with a separate Subwoofer. But, who doesn't want that!

[Deleted]

Yes they are, much better. The best speaker drivers today have far less higher order distortion than those of a few years ago (and more) and crossovers through computer optimization have become simpler for a given crossover slope.

Also there is some controversy about how much distortion levels matter to perceived sound. Speakers color the sound of a system more than almost anything else and people have preferences about whether a speaker is "accurate" to them. I love the sound of my Etons for most music and sound tracks yet their mid-woofers have relatively high distortion at their frequency extremes. Perhaps using active crossovers with steep slopes mitigates this. But it comes down to what sounds good to you when the day is over. I'm going to stick with what sounds good to me whether its speakers or something like automated setup.

[Derry]

Depends,,

I have had many sets of ears listen to my two systems and love em both,,

in my vinyl area I have Altec Voice of theaters (VOTs) working off a tube Fisher amp,, both units are from the mid 1960s and pretty much original,, caps have been updated,, the speakers are quite efficent @ 102db and can work fine off a 5 watt amp,,

in my HT I run Magnepan 1.6QRs (with Peter Gunn XOs) off a XPA-2 amp (500 watts) fed by a Marantz SR9600,, everything is under four years age,,

they each offer very high quality sound but yet are different,, I run the same Pandora feed to both and can walk from one room to the other playing the same music to compare,,

I understand why some really like a different system as well as the older "better" speakers of which many are still offering high quality sounds,,

Derry

[pdaddy]

My Fuselier 3.8bs speakers from 1988 made local in Atlanta still sound amazing. I wish I still had my Eagle 2a amp from Electron Kinestics. That baby had some serious power supplies and amazing bass.