@tweak1 - to me the only negative of the open baffle design are their looks. If they are for a dedicated listening room (or man cave/basement) where a physics lab type look is not a big deal they're fine, versus in a den (where my system is) where you don't want them to look out of place or as a curiosity .
I had open baffle speakers for 25 years and liked them. Alons, but only the tweeter and midrange were open - but they were hidden behind a well designed grill so unless you walked up to them you wouldn't know they were open behind the drivers on top behind the front and side grill.
After all that time I had an opportunity to get a closeout bargain on a pair of KEF R500s that are thin piano black rectangles which are a more dynamic and detailed with better bass response. Alons were more relaxed. KEFs are improved tremendously by multi layer platforms I put them on (Symposium acoustics Stealth Segues) that both isolate them from the suspended floor and drain distortion from inside the cabinets. Much better than the spike/disc combos that KEF supplies. I wonder if the new R5 Metas are worth the huge price increase (over 20% over the R5s which were a 10% bump above the R500s). KEF is now closing out the R5s which are a bargain. Big companies inventory miscalculations are a benefit to audiophiles, versus small ones who can manufacture very closely to demand.
I am still curious to hear from anyone who thinks the unusual potential shapes of carbon fiber speakers' cabinets adds to their SQ with all else being equal, or is it just a matter of the overall design.