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Sound quality of Newer versus Older speakers

From a sound quality perspective, is there anything that newer speakers are doing better than older speakers. For reference, I have a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 300s which are amazing me with their ability to balance detail retrieval with an ability to avoid harshness (with the right ancillaries). My subjective perception is that this type of balance between resolution and refinement was more difficult to find in speakers from 20-30 years ago.
calvinandhobbes

Showing 2 responses by phusis

phusis's avatar
phusis
1,133 posts
 
@speakermaster --

New speakers do one thing that the old ones will not do, they look real pretty, the old way of making speakers was all about the sound and performance and not the looks.

To me a speaker is "pretty" when its looks is a clear reflection of its function - i.e.: that form follows function, and not the other way round. You truly see the manifestation of physics-as-a-necessity, whereas looking pretty for just that usually leaves performance by the wayside. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
phusis's avatar
phusis
1,133 posts
 
@alexberger and @roxy54 --

"So when I go to friends or audio show I always hear compression from most of low sensitive speakers. Even big speakers like Wilson Audio. I feel it like a heavy, strained sound reproduction, unnatural, tiresome. Sound presses and it cause me a discomfort."
I really agree with this. Low sensitivity speakers don’t have the same sense of ease as high efficiency speakers, especially (but not exclusively) horn speakers.

I’d agree with this as well, although some of the "molasses"-like imprinting described, from my experience, is also a by-product of passive cross-overs, like a slight softening of the sound - a bit more smeared and less transparent, even. Most high efficiency speakers are passively configured also, but here the effect appears less pronounced.
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