Adding to the post, I thought Id mention a few other things...
If you go on youtube, grab some good headphones, and listen to some of the Holographic audio recordings.
In Holographic audio, they use 2 mic's, mounted to a human head shaped object.. which helps to capture audio the exact way in which
it would be heard by the ears, in the correct distances, timings, angular reflections, and auditory overlapping. The effect can be jaw dropping. It can literally make you feel like you are somewhere else. It can give sound effect and feeling, that blows away the very best Surround sound systems + movies. And honestly, Should be used on games and movies, for much greater impact.
Now.... about todays Speakers and Audio solutions...
These days, they are all about making as much profit as possible, and with labor being more expensive, material & overhead costs being higher, and environmental issues... they rarely produce the same high quality speakers that were made in the past.
The other thing you must know... is that all PC audio isnt created equal. The old soundblaster audio cards I have, will blow all the onboard audio chipsets away. The onboard stuff tends to be missing a huge range of frequencies, and the accuracy of the sounds that are produced.. and not that good. Its very mid-rangy, even if you tweak their EQ. You lose the crystal clear highs, and the deep rumbling lows.
PC speakers themselves, are very limited... and new home theater audio, is matching the trend, of using very small drivers & enclosures... and then one large box subwoofer. However, this setup will not produce all the frequency ranges. A good 10" woofer, will be much more accurate and powerful, in representing the true bass sounds. A subwoofer isnt meant to be used for accurate music, and is neither sensitve, nor is built for clean, clear, mid to low range woofer sound spectrum. Its merely meant for the range below the woofers typical output... and mostly for special effect, rather than truthful representation.
Efficiency...
Due to environmental concerns... they are increasing the efficiency of speakers.. so they take less power to drive. This seems like a good thing... but, it can actually be very much the opposite. Much like putting a stylus on a piece of glass... theres very low friction, and its very easy to move around... BUT, that makes it more difficult to control the pen... so your handwriting and drawings, tend to be very sloppy. The friction of natural paper, means that you will have to use a bit more force to overcome the friction.. but it also will help you come to a graceful and controlled stop.. without sliding far past the intended stopping point.
With speakers, greater magnet strength equates to greater control of the woofer. Greater accelerations, braking/directional changes, and even overall power. This creates things like "Punchy" bass... rather than flat deflated.. and less defined messy / sloppy bass. This of course, take a lot more power to accomplish. This means you will need a Very powerful amp to drive them... and even then, the speakers might not be as loud as the new speakers you may have. As most of the power is going towards making accurate music.. rather than merely loud music.
I bought an old pair of EPI's, that have an 8" woofer, and an inverted tweeter. These things do not have as much power as my 12" three way techniques. However, the sound accuracy is so lush and clear.. that I really find it hard going back to the Techs. The techs bass is muddied, and honestly, the EPIs can produce lower bass, with much more clarity, and less distortion. The EPIs are also sealed, not ported, like the Techs. A port, is a hollow tube, that is set to make a certain frequency sound as the air leaves it... but that sound, is very artificial. It also means that the air needed internally, isnt always there... and so you lose accurate pressure to produce clean sounds.
The EPIs inverted tweeter is insane. It produces sound so precise, and it fills a 3d soundstage all over the room. Unlike dome tweeters, where there is one Sweet-Spot... the sweet spot is almost anywhere you stand. It also produces frequencies of the midrange, without any distortion or accuracy issues, which means theres no reason for another crossover in the system. The woofer coils also are designed in such a way, as not to need a high frequency cut off crossover. As such, theres almost no crossover system on them... and so the sound isnt colored, or changed in any way... as can happen with crossover systems.
The result, is candy to the ears. The only thing I regret, is not having more of them... as to bump up the loudness, from multiple speakers. I would also love to hear the 10" versions, and or the other dual driver versions of these small, but magnificent speakers. These things blow all the big name audio companies right out of the water. The cool thing is... a guy whom used to work for them, is still hand building them. You can buy brand new drivers from him, which are the same quality or even slightly enhanced... and then build your own boxes to place them in.
I also got a pair of large advents. But on the short test I made, they sounded way too bassy. As in... being so overwhelming, as to sound too artificial. They need re-foaming, so I cant really do any extensive tests on them.
I also have a pair of Phillips boom box speakers with the Woox passive woofer-subwoofer system. They are pretty amazing for their size, clarity,bass level, and power handling. Three tweeters, and one 6.5' woofer I believe. The woox passive radiator really does a much better job of low freq. response than the typical port-only systems. Though, they still do not have the same clarity and accuracy of the EPIs.