Why not more popular?

My only experience was owning a pair of large Alon speakers where the mid and high range drivers were mounted on an open baffle.  I really tried to like those speakers (over several years and upgrades) but never got to a sound that seemed right to me (maybe a perceived lack of drive and dynamics).  I basically ended up in the same place as @tubebuffer - 

"Open baffle remind me of fat gym teacher. Something just not right."

   

I owned a pair of EP KCII Pro's for the better part of a year.  I knew I was not able to set them up ideally--could only place them 30" off the front wall.  Even so, they imaged wonderfully--of course, depth was limited but excellent height and width.  They also had explosive dynamics.

OB bass is very inefficient bass, due to wave cancellation.  So you need really big drivers placed well out into the room to mitigate this.  So in my experience, that tight, fast OB bass could also be described as a major lack of bass.  So that required subs.  

The deal breaker for me was a peak around 3-4khz that would rear its head on too many recordings.  So out they went, replaced by a wholly satisfying box loudspeaker.

Like many things in life, it's not the pathway you choose, but how you execute that choice.

Colored reproduction ...

Some of Legacy Audio's more expensive speakers are partial open baffles. Legacy calls these speakers hybrid dipolar. Very well regarded sound quality.

Open baffle remind me of fat gym teacher. Something just not right

. @tubebuffer that is funny.