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RE: I think it is exponential .. Exponentially retro that is

And the electrostatic speaker concept predates moving coils and ribbons date from the 1920s. Not to mention the plasma ion speaker, the principle has been known since the late 1800s (the singing arc!). So, there is actually nothing really new and in that sense it can all be seen as "retro" to whomever might decide to call it that. Horns of course, being acoustic transformers, were probably the most popular early on when the amp power was low and you had to fill a whole theater full with sound. This is why it probably seems retro to you.

Quad was famous not because they invented the electrostatic speaker but because they figured out how to make it sort of reliable and somewhat room friendly (in the beginning you only needed 1). Ribbons have been commercially available, at least as tweeters, also since the mid 1950s. Now though with rare earth magnets we can bring that "retro" technology up to fairly high sensitivity. Horns have been improved as well, although I will reiterate that the old ones were pretty special as well and if you haven't heard it then you don't know what you are missing. I heard recently a 40K WE clone system, although it used original Jensen 15 inch field coil drivers.

Hell, even that idea has come back as people have realized you can control damping of a driver pretty effectively this way (witness Focal's Grand Utopia Be EM with electromagnetic damping adjustment).

Also, horn design has not been static anymore than other types of speaker design (witness the latest from Avantgarde, Odeon, Acapella, Living Voice, Tune Audio and many others).

Finally, the tube designs, although taking the basic concepts from the simplest designs...ie. the SET doesn't make it anymore retro than a ribbon speaker. Modern transformers, modern passive parts and even modernized circuit and especially power supply designs make them pretty far removed from the SETs of the 1920s and 1930s. Taking a concept from the past and executing it in a modern way is not necessarily retro...although that is the angle that some strive for...it is a wide open market afterall.


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