Speakers were developed in the 20th century. All the technologies. Looking ahead more than a few months to the next greatest (and most expensive) speaker kind of minimizes how long a century is and how much development can happen in such a time period.
Having said all that my guess is that 'speakers' by the end of this century will be one long device that you hang around a space - the main consumer requirement being ease of use (followed, hopefully, by sound quality). The source equipment will detect the format (length and shape) of the speaker and present a full surround sound picture of the music. The presented sound can be dynamically tested by the source equipment and equalized as necessary. From this you'll detect that I believe 'stereo' is old (almost as old as mono) as is 5.1, 7.1, 10.2, 17.6 or whatever. We'll have true surround and the media will present a picture of the soundstage rather than discrete sound channels.
Main problem I can see with this is how a user-friendly flexible long panel will be able to push enough air to create low frequencies, and be mounted stiffly enough to present a static presentation of sound. But that's not my problem - over to the engineers. I've got to start saving for all this new technology. And I don't even have SACD or DVD-A yet.
Having said all that my guess is that 'speakers' by the end of this century will be one long device that you hang around a space - the main consumer requirement being ease of use (followed, hopefully, by sound quality). The source equipment will detect the format (length and shape) of the speaker and present a full surround sound picture of the music. The presented sound can be dynamically tested by the source equipment and equalized as necessary. From this you'll detect that I believe 'stereo' is old (almost as old as mono) as is 5.1, 7.1, 10.2, 17.6 or whatever. We'll have true surround and the media will present a picture of the soundstage rather than discrete sound channels.
Main problem I can see with this is how a user-friendly flexible long panel will be able to push enough air to create low frequencies, and be mounted stiffly enough to present a static presentation of sound. But that's not my problem - over to the engineers. I've got to start saving for all this new technology. And I don't even have SACD or DVD-A yet.