Open Baffle. Why are they mostly limited to DIY?

There are many ways to skin a cat, or a loudspeaker. Baffle-less designs are out there, from the semi-kit products like Pure Audio, to finished louspeakers like Emerald Physics. But other designs are also baffle-free, or partially baffle-free, like most omnis. And a full range planar speaker is also free of a baffle.

I have been using Ohm Walsh 2000s since 2009, and before that, Vandersteen 1Cs. So, you can count me in as part of the anti-baffle crowd. IME, a speaker with a baffle can sound baffle-less, but heroic efforts must be made to make the cabinet inert and avoid diffraction. That always means big bucks. For those of us with limited resources, baffle-free loudspeakers offer a cheaper way to take the box out of the equation. They’re not for everyone, of course, but unless I could spend a lot of money on a pair of speakers, I will stick to baffle-less designs.

david_ten, my remark about the versatility of OB speakers was admittedly only limited to single full range driver designs. The multi drivers like Pure Audio project, Spatial or hybrids with sealed box woofers like Tekton OB, etc., are much more forgiving in terms of music genres that sound good even when played loud.   

atmasphere, thanks for the tip. I read something similar in Nelson Pass's technical article about current source amplifiers and full range drivers. Makes a lot of sense.