Speakers 10 years old or older that can compete with todays best,

Epos M5 -- I’ve owned some great stand mounts and these remain where others have passed in and out. Proac, KEF, etc.. It’s no wonder the great, late Stereophile reviewer Robert Reina kept the M5 as his go-to stand mount reference for so long. Don’t be fooled by the size. These speakers are incredible in a medium sized room placed 12-18" from back wall. The mid bass alone makes you forget about deep bass. Midrange and highs produce lifelike image.

When I first heard of the Sony SS-AR-1 I knew I should investigate. They were special.

I had these over 40 years ago. Still one of my favorite after owning many others since!!

Dahlquist DQ‑10

One should always be wary of pronouncing “firsts,” but, appearing in the early seventies, Jon Dahlquist’s DQ‑10 was to my knowledge the first dynamic speaker to employ multiple drivers in an open-baffle configuration (except the acoustic‑suspension woofer, which was enclosed) staggered for proper time‑alignment and phase coherence, in an attempt to realize the openness and freedom from boxiness that Dahlquist prized in his beloved Quad ESL-57s—with the added advantages of deeper bass and dynamic extension well beyond the Quad. (The physical resemblance to the Quad was both mandated by the design and an intentional homage.) Far from flawless (including conceptually), the DQ-10 was nevertheless a ground-breaking design that preceded dozens of subsequent speakers (perhaps most prominent among them models from KEF, B&W, Spica, Thiel, Vandersteen, and Wilson) continuing up to the present day. Few large, full-range dynamic speakers before or for some time afterward equaled its openness. Paul Seydor

interesting post!

Thanks yogiboy ...

My first speakers looked exactly like that in yogiboy's post. They needed power to be happy, but they were excellent.