Valencias are great speakers IMHO, but the drivers are derived from work done in the 1930s by James B. Lansing when he worked for Altec.

There was a rather nice demo of the *new* A7 VOTT at my local Audio Union today (SSB knows how large this shop, isn't). They really needed a better amp and front end, but are superb speakers and, compared for the unmitigated crap that mostly passes for "high-end" these days, rather good value - at least if the price is for a pair rather than one...