Rudy Van Gelder and other recording engineers in the 50s often had to roll off the lows at ~100Hz in the final master because the turntables of the era couldn't handle the bass below that w/o skipping. The vinyl playback technology had to evolve to facilitate a wider dynamic range. This is one reason the remasters by Kevin Gray and others (using original analog tape) sound so fantastic...they opened the pipe back up as modern gear can fully handle it - the results are often stunning.
What improvement came first?
I was sitting here thinking, listening to David Gilmour. Be that as it may, What equipment improvements came ahead of others? For example, in order to hear the difference between amps, wouldn’t you need better speakers first to hear the difference? So in my thinking, speakers advanced ahead of amps. It was only once speakers became good enough, that the more subtle differences could be heard. But is that correct? What improves came before other ones? Did tone arms need to improve ahead of more advanced cartridges? If so, then improvements of one part can totally depend on advancement of another part first. Improvements in equipment are not just incremental within a category but between categories.