One big difference was the use of point source PA speakers in clusters, opposed to line arrays typically used today. Not sure if that helped the guns sound quality though. I was not fully satisfied when I ran a pair of NAK guns, but when I changed to running the CP4s with a card in the center indoors, and omni in the center outside, into an MX100 mixer, I loved the sound. Compromise is a constant for taping to get the best sound under whatever limits are faced, never more so than taping the Grateful Dead. On a side note, when I started taping Phish in '92, I did not like the way guns sounded for them at all, and only ran them a few times before switching to cards and hypers only by '94.