Difference between today and yesterday.

Total disagree with the past having as hi a performance as modern. Only loudspeakers I can think of that would compete with modern in home are quads and some vintage horns maybe a reel to reel the vintage TT stock and modified for me has also been proven wrong.I think many feel what they grew up with is the best, this is very commen in hobbies people look to the past with rose colored glasses. What we had or wanted but couldnt have in our youth is highly coveted today.I have collected many things beside audio and this has always effected values of said items. You should of seen how many british motorcycles we sold in the late 80s early 90s to boomers who where too young or broke to buy the BSA or Norton back in the 60s many would say these old motorcycles where much better than modern again while I love vintage motorcycles this also is not true. Same happens with vintage audio today. The guys that grew up when this kit was about are mostly the sameones proclaiming how damn good it is today. I tried much of it, all sounded dated to me, fun but dated....I still collect vintage audio kit my collection starts at 1890. Neat stuff great to know hear our history but compared to modern why not compare performance of a 1940s ford to a 2008 ford.

I would take my 1974 sansui sp-5500's over anything made today....

And modern violins are much better than those old Stradivarius fiddles.

LOL: Well spoken Eldartford!
Especially those ss powered ones. Much better highs.......

I had those same Sansui speakers and they are what got me into hifi when I was a teen in the 70's and inherited them from my older bro -- who got the big pyramidal Ohm speakers.

Were they better? Was I less fussy? Perhaps the fact that I was usually listening after smoking whatever pot my older siblings (college age) could spare made the experience so good that the speakers live in some sort of elevated pantheon. Maybe I had lower expectations. Whatever the reason, I fell in love with music and stereos back then.

I do know that the Sansui speakers kicked my friends JBL Jubals in the butt in a side by side test.

But I'll stick with my current Aerial 9's.

I also heard a set of Sansui speakers recently, and they still sound good....but not up to current standards anymore than my old Dual automatic tt sounds like my decked out LP-12 or my Sansui 5000A sounds like my Cary SLP05/MB500 setup....or my 30 feet of zip cord sounds like Kubala Emotion.

BUT -- I'm still listening to the same vinyl I bought then.

My first album, purchased when I was 12, was Steely Dan's Can't Buy a Thrill. I still play the same album with pride on my new gear as on my 1973 system, but I don't know that I experience quite the ecstasy that I did when I was newer to the game.

Old speakers DO NOT sound as good as new stuff, but old (and jaded and critical) ears don't hear as well either....

YMMV

Rich