What if there were no more new speaker models?

@ghdprentice 

Clearly live music is probably not something we want to completely reproduce because most stuff is ultimately and necessarily processed in studios anyway. And even live performances probably need lots of tonal work before they’re ready for your hi-fi system.

Basically at the end of the day, we only are able to hear an accurate rendition of an engineers efforts to fiddle with things on his large console before sending it to be mass produced. And of course this all follows the material he has to work with as reproduced by all the various recording equipment throughout the studio or throughout a live performance.

At the end of the day it’s about capturing sound waves from a live performance or through electronic efforts in a studio. Or maybe they’re still recording actual instruments inside a studio these days. And then once you’ve captured it, an engineer has to fiddle with it so he can send it on its way to be mass produced.

No doubt a very simpletons way to few things. 

Oh, and then once it’s been mass produced it goes through a hi-fi system to be interpreted by additional engineers who create all these mystery boxes and pressurized enclosures they put drivers to reveal all those efforts that took place before you get to hear it sitting across the room. And then it passes into your ear and through the miracle of evolution your brain receives and processes all these pressurized amplitudes in a manner that excites your brain so that you can feel pleasure.  Caveman were not so lucky, except to be able to distinguish sound variations to all those threats in order to survive.  Standing and walking upright was very difficult and then we had to react to all the sounds that were heard on the open fields and in the forests.

By real music I mean symphonies from the Orchestra Hall, small acoustical jazz you need to use acoustical music as your reference not rock ‘n’ roll or processed electronic stuff. I have A bunch of recordings where I was actually at the symphony when it was being recorded.

 "Why is there demand for newer speaker models? What is it that's being done that makes the speakers better than they were last year? Does anyone know?"

Vance Packard's The Waste Makers (1960) is a classic treatment of planned obsolescence and manufactured demand. Packard distinguishes functional obsolescence (it breaks) from psychological obsolescence (you're made to feel it's outdated). The audio industry it more inclined to the latter.

John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society (1958) argues that in mature consumer economies, demand is no longer discovered but created by producers. The want precedes the product, not the other way around. His concept of the "dependence effect" maps directly onto the OP's question.

Further back, Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) addresses conspicuous consumption and the signaling function of goods. High-end audio is a nearly perfect Veblen domain: the price is part of the product.

The OP is asking the right question: is the improvement engineering-driven or market-driven? Galbraith gives the best answer — in mature industries, those two things have largely switched places.

It's all about keeping the ball rolling. If your marketing dept. is good, you have a shot at success. It's funny the OP used the analogy of the toaster. My mind went immediately to ROASTERS. I'm talking the boardwalk type you used to see as a kid. They built them so well, maintenance was at a minimum. They didn't know about built in obsolesce then. Guys are still using the same roasters today.

@jnovak - I've had the same Sharp microwave for 35 years that I still use today, and it's needed no maintenance, except for the occasional whack on the side to get the turntable moving....