2. speakers
  3. 175843-171943

Speakers: Anything really new under the sun?

After a 20-year hiatus (kids, braces, college, a couple of new roofs, etc.) I'm slowly getting back into hi-fi.  My question: is there really anything significantly new in speakers design/development/materials? I'm a bit surprised that the majority of what I see continues to be some variation of a 2- or 3-way design -- many using off-the-shelf drivers -- in a box (usually MDF at it core) with a crossover consisting of a handful of very common, relatively inexpensive components. I'm asking in all sincerity so please don't bash me. I'm not trying to provoke or prove anything, I'm just genuinely curious. What, if anything, has really changed? Would love to hear from some speaker companies/builders here. Also, before one of you kindly tells me I shouldn't worry about new technologies or processes and just go listen for myself -- I get it -- I'll always let my ear be my guide. However, after 20 years, I'm hoping there's been some progress I may be missing. Also, I unfortunately live in a hifi-challenged part of the country -- the closest decent hifi dealer is nearly 3 hours away -- so I can't just run out and listen to a bunch of new speakers. Would appreciate your insights. 

jaybird5619

Showing 1 response by realworldaudio

realworldaudio
174 posts
 

The biggest step forward was the improvement in the crossover parts quality. Mainly massive leaps in capacitor technology are responsible for most of the sonic improvements we hear over 20 years ago. Basically, take a top speaker from 20 yrs ago, change crossover parts to current high quality parts (caps, resistors, inductors, wiring, solder), and it will compete at the same level as top performers today.

AKA: you have a 20-30y old speaker you love, just bring the crossover up to our age, and you have arrived.

There was a trend though in the past 20 yrs: the voicing moving away from high fidelity to high end. That is, from a balanced natural sound towards a bigger show, enhancing apparent detail level at the cost of compromised tonality.

A second strong trend of the past 2 decades: loudspeakers are getting harder to drive, impedances are sinking lower, forcing you towards solid state amplification.  This provides lesser dynamic range and dependency on very high damping factor and high wattage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to discover