Are modern speakers better than old speakers?


I have a pair of Moraunt Short Signifer speakers, which was their flagship in 1980. Have speakers improved dramtically since then? I would like to know what price bracket one would be in now to outperform these. I like their sound, wonderfull 12inch drivers and a paper mid without surrounds (no rubber/etc) plus a nice ferrofluid filled tweeter, which was relatively new technology at the time I believe. Also I would like to know if it is recommendable to upgrade the crossovers and cabling. Also perhaps bypassing the high frequency level adjustment. Please let me know your thoughts on this.
jaapjess

Showing 1 response by regafan_1972

I am in the same predicament you are in, I own Mordaunt Short Festival Series 2 from the early 80's that seem to sound really good for the most part. What I am wondering though is if, because these are the only speakers I have had in my place with my stereo, then I might be limiting the sound and not knowing it. However, I did take them in recently to do a direct comparison with some Quad 12L2's and Monitor Audio Silver 7i's and my old Mordaunts really held their own. I think the Monitor Audios sounded slightly better, but the Mordaunts have one 8" driver and it seemed to have better bass than both the others.

I still can't help but wonder how my Mordaunts would compare in my listening environment at home with a comparison to Paradigm Studio 20 V.4's, B&W 685 or 705's, or some others. I think there is something to be said for improved technology and better ways to measure the sound from speakers, such as Paradigm's government-funded audio labs, so I am curious too.