Open baffle speakers

They became popular because, if well designed, they sound phenomenal. Yeah, you'll probably want a sub, but in all honesty, you'd probably want a sub no matter what type of speakers you run.

+1 @coralkong I’ve heard Spatial speakers on several occasions and they never sounded bass shy even without subs — on the contrary the bass sounded excellent. 100% agree almost all box speakers benefit greatly from a couple subs as well so that’s not a deterrent to owning an open-baffle speaker in my book. As always there are trade offs either way, but when you can get that level of sound/openness/efficiency without the considerable expense and additional weight of an having to build/ship a heavy, inert box it’s not hard to see why open-baffle designs offer some significant advantages. I could live very happily with what I’ve heard from these designs and may well own some in the future.

I moved to OB's last year with zero regret. bass is fast dynamic and deep enough for me. each of my speakers has a 18" sub bass, 15" mid bass, 8" mid, 1.5" tweeters and a tinny supper tweeter.

I get bass in room down to 25-30hz, properly set up of course. to be honest i though bass was going to be the down side but its really the best part of the speakers. supper fast no boxy sound etc. If you've not tryed a good OB in a room that can support it, then its worth a listen. the key is a room large enough to get them out from the wall 4'-6' to get proper front and rear wave integration. 

@soix ,

Yep. Exactly. I went to OB, and don’t think I can ever go back. The bass hits differently than a box speaker, but I guess it depends on what type of music you listen to. I do run a sub, but my OB configuration is a concentric tweeter in a 12" carbon mid with 2× 15" carbon woofers. Not bass shy by any means, but they don’t "slam" like the effect you get with a powered sub. They sound really, really good. I'm very happy, and they certainly cured my upgrade-itis.

Few people have heard either the Linkwitz Lab or GR Research open baffle loudspeakers, both of which include open baffle woofers. Linkwitz uses a pair of 10" woofers in an M/W frame, GR Research a choice of two or three 12" woofers in an H frame, with a dipole cancellation compensation circuit incorporated into the Rythmik Audio plate amp that comes with the DIY kit, along with Rythmik’s servo-feedback system. Bass response to 20Hz.

The GGR/Rythmik OB/Dipole Sub was developed in a collaboration between Danny Richie of GR Research and Brian Ding of Rythmik Audio. Danny was already offering OB subs in kit form, when he learned of Brian's new servo-feedback system. He thought combining OB woofer design with servo-feedback might produce state-of-the art bass reproduction, so proposed the two of them join forces.

Danny is a longtime die-hard OB enthusiast, more so than Brian. Brian himself finds the sound characteristic of the OB/Dipole Sub "leaner" than he cares for, preferring the extra weight of sealed and ported subs (of which he offers in a vast array of models). If you've heard the low frequency reproduction produced by the big Magnepan models (the old Tympani line, and the current 30.7), you have an idea of what the GRR/Rythmik OB/Dipole Sub sounds like.