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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
128x128johnk
soundsrealaudio's avatar
soundsrealaudio
642 posts
 
Seems like a lot of discussion about drivers and slopes. How about cabinets, materials and resonances. 


ivan_nosnibor's avatar
ivan_nosnibor
782 posts
 
I tend to agree with those who are saying that things, overall, have tended to improve with time, better highs, better lows, for sure. But even so, I gotta say that the humble, successfully-well-thought-out, untreated-paper cone midrange is still...pretty damn stout, actually. A righteous thing still IMHO, even today...cliche, maybe, but true!
tmare
44 posts
 
Wrong! Clearly you don’t know anything about Violins and there is no comparison that makes any sense between an old Violin and an old speaker. An ideal speaker should have no voice of its own.
The problem of this statement is comparing real speakers VS ideal speakers. Ideal speakers is better, no question, but as far as I understand, the ideal speaker nor violin never existed, and it will not.
tmare
44 posts
 
I started thinking that the ideal electronic to acoustic conversion (vice-versa) is not determined by measurable specification. If so, measurement microphone is the only microphone needed in the professional recording process, but I have never heard someone records the musical instrument with a measurement microphone.
mikewerner
93 posts
 
So, what characteristics does an ideal speaker have?
Who is going to discuss this? Generalities don't help. 

I think this is where the comparison with violins falls apart. In theory there is no ideal violin - they are all different, but in theory there is an ideal speaker. My contention is that with modern methods we can get closer to that ideal.

Your point about the measurement microphone is interesting. I'll think some more on that one.

Comments from someone with experience with measurement microphones or designing speakers would be helpful.
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