Full disclosure - Speaker designer / manufacturer
There are advances in materials all the time. Manufacturing process improvements help companies build products that are more consistent. Competition helps keep the costs down. Speaker technology keeps evolving but it's not always obvious to consumers. Foe example, there are companies that specialize in speaker voice coils or pole pieces. They may invest in more efficient assembly machines which allows them to make a better, more consistent product while keeping cost down.
We are a small speaker manufacturer and have invested considerable resources to design, develop and manufacture our own AMT drivers. Advances in adhesives, diaphragm architecture and substantial research of magnetic motor structures have allowed us to build AMT drivers that cover the range from 120 Hz to 24 KHz. Our speakers use digital crossover and room correction. Our woofers have a unique loading. We did not invent AMT drivers, DSP or pioneer driver loading. We did reinvent some existing technology, combined it with some relatively new technologies to build a very unique speaker system. New designs do happen.
There is ongoing development in many areas which can lead to new and innovative designs or improve the performance of more traditional designs.