Open baffle speakers

My experiences with open baffle speakers started with the Caintuck speaker that I first observed on the Decware site, which I built and bought a pair of the least expensive Lii audio 6 inch speakers for. I wasn’t expecting much and was shocked how appealing they were to me, I later bought a pair of the F15s Which I put in a bit larger baffle and was further pleased. I had read Nelson Pass saying that he was rather enjoying open baffle speakers with no crossovers full range. That is what these were and they are surprisingly enjoyable. Lots of speed and leading edge definition  And much less sensitive to sweet spot problems. They par nicely with subwoofers, but also hold their own without them. I think it is because they deliver such nice cues regarding the attack and transient qualities of the music that your mind fills in some of the missing base performance. I’ve also done a little experimenting digitally, equalizing them but tend to come back to liking their performance unaided, warts and all. Needless to say these are great speakers for small amplifiers both tube and solid-state. They are efficient and present a very easy to drive load. Maybe that is part of what makes them appealing. 

I never even considered that imaging would be a problem with open baffle speakers.  They do a good job when correctly placed, as do most other types of speakers.  In many respects, they are not much different from panel speakers, like Maggies, which also have a dipole radiation pattern that result in bass cancellation and substantial sound coming from the back.  If the back wave is sufficiently delayed in time reaching the listeners ear vis-a-vis the front wave, the ear/brain hears it as reverberation and not a confusing signal about the location of the original sound source.  Added reverb is generally not a bad thing and some people have spent a lot to generate additional reverb to supplement what is in the recording.

My only experience was owning Alon V MkIIs, which were like the Qualio IQ - sealed box woofer under an open baffle with mid and tweeter. I never got used to the sound and sold them after a couple of years to happily return to box speakers. The open baffle sound was just too diffuse sounding for me.

Last year at the Burning Amp Festival I heard a pair of open-baffle speakers that I found very impressive.  They were tall, with 7 drivers in a D'Appolito configuration on beautiful hardwood slabs.  The most natural sounding bass!  A plucked acoustic bass sounded like real strings, not "thuds."  Midrange and highs were lovely too.  Imaging was excellent, IMO.  They were made by a fellow named Greg Prisament and called "Natur".  He has a web site but I don't know if he's taking orders.  Previously I've heard smaller, single-driver OB speakers (some DIY and some commercial) and they were pleasant in many ways but wouldn't do orchestral music to speak of.  These were speakers I could live with.  I'm hoping he'll be there again this year, I'd like to hear them again.

I have the GR Research NX-Otica open baffles and their 2-driver OB sub.  Most of the people in our audio club rate them as among the best they have ever heard.

There’s certainly excellent bass.  Very tight and textured.