Open baffle speakers

@bache No, I like them fine, just saying that you aren’t paying for that on most OB speakers. Your money should be going to making the other components better on OB designs.

Would someone prefer the OB Caladans at $3500 or say the pretty Ash veneer of Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G speakers at $3400?  Guess it depends on their room and other associated equipment. 

Never gave open baffle speakers a thought, then I went to an Audio show.  Outside of $40k speakers, the open baffle ones sounded the best, actually had too much bass. These things blew me away, they sounded so good!!

Then found out they are DIY for like $2k, still on the fence about building a pair, but still can't believe how good they sounded. 

speaker video

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when an acoustic band is playing, the "sound" is coming from every direction, and not straight to your ears. So would an open baffle with both forward, and reflective sound be more realistic, and natural? Have a much bigger sweet spot? 

Dick Olsher's Basszillas worked out very well for me.  The bass reflex cabinet with the 16" woofer and the absorbent disk on the back wall gave smooth, articulate bass but not the submarine-low thunder that I didn't care for anyway, and the DX4's with the ribbon tweeters were magnificent.  Drove the things with a 4 watt 2A3 to as far as you'd wanna go.  That baffle, though, needs to be BIG.  The plans are still out there, I think.  

An open baffle speaker with good field coil drivers sorts out typical issues with low frequency control. In my listening, the only traditionally boxed speakers able to eliminate cabinet colouration have been the massive kharma enigma veyrons and the goebel divin marquis, and even so, never fully - a nuanced degree of cabinet is always heard. Something about greatly increased size, i believe, reduces unwanted sound contributions of the sealed box design. Open baffle, all other things equal, comes without any trace of colouration whatsoever, coupled with all that air which accompanies live music. They’re simply amazing : )

In friendship - kevin 

If you MUST put speakers against the back wall, Larsen is the speaker for you. They are designed for that role and do it very well. If you wish to put your OB speakers (I have maggies and Linkwitz) close to a back wall, just hang a rug, curtain, quilt, or tapestry about 1 inch from the wall (attach the fabric to a 1x1 screwed into the wall) and place the speaker a few inches from the fabric. It can be a "hall runner" or something wider. Thick, fuzzy rugs work best. The speaker's stand projects at least a few inches front and rear, so you can push them up to the wall. If the room is wider than deep, turn the speakers 45 degrees to the wall (aimed at you) so the back wave reflects off the back wall and bounces off the side wall before bouncing back to you. That lengthen the path of the back wave. Floor carpet, rugs, etc will improve juat about any listening space. Popcorn ceilings are your friends. Happy listening!