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Loudspeakers have we really made that much progress since the 1930s?

Since I have a slight grasp on the history or loudspeaker design. And what is possible with modern. I do wonder if we have really made that much progress. I have access to some of the most modern transducers and design equipment. I also have  large collection of vintage.  I tend to spend the most time listening to my 1930 Shearer horns. For they do most things a good bit better than even the most advanced loudspeakers available. And I am not the only one to think so I have had a good num of designers retailers etc give them a listen. Sure weak points of the past are audible. These designs were meant to cover frequency ranges at the time. So adding a tweeter moves them up to modern performance. To me the tweeter has shown the most advancement in transducers but not so much the rest. Sure things are smaller but they really do not sound close to the Shearer.  http://www.audioheritage.org/html/profiles/lmco/shearer.htm
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Showing 3 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,807 posts
 
Well, efficiency without resorting to an electromagnet based speaker is one big issue compared to that design! :) Unplug them from the wall outlet and they are mute.

Horns themselves have improved quite a bit in terms of distortion, extension and coverage.  I don't care how good those sounded, I have no place for them in my house.

But, are we talking home speakers or professional speakers?  It's unfair to compare one to the other.

In particular, one big benefit a lot of well made auditorium size speakers still have is lack of compression, and especially thermally related compression, than their consumer counterparts.

BUT!! Here's another way to look at it. Find me a speaker from the 1930's that occupied no more than 2 square feet of floor space that sounds anywhere near as good as a current pair of Monitor Audio Silver floor standers.


erik_squires
15,807 posts
 
I think if we go from one type of technology to another, it's impossible to say things got better or worse.  If you want to talk giant auditorium speakers as the "standard of 1930's" then we have to compare them to the current giant theater speakers as well.

I think for movies, encoding, amplification and speakers are much better than it used to be. Encoding alone is about 8 generations ahead of what it was then. Single track optical, double track optical, Dolby Surround, multi-track magnetic, Dolby Digital and SMTE locked DTS.  Standards for measurements, calibration and room acoustics have also improved greatly. Mind you, the movies haven't really gotten better though. :)

So apples to apples, yes, things have gotten much better, from stereo to television sound, living room sound, and car audio.

As I've said before though, some critical parts of speaker technology Have improved, but not every manufacturer cares to pay attention. Distortion, compression, thermal compression, and stored energy.  Not everyone cares so not everyone bothers. I do. :)

Best,


Erik
erik_squires
15,807 posts
 
Not as many high-end dome or ring tweeters have ferrofluid as they used to plus Air Motion Transformer (AMT, i.e. Heil) and ribbon tweeters have no need.

Not including ferrofluid can also lower the resonant frequency of a tweeter, allowing it to be crossed over lower than otherwise.

Best,

Erik


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