2. speakers
  3. 165840-12620

Why not more popular?

A couple of years ago, I got my first set of open baffle speakers. I've owned a few pairs of Magneplanars and many box speakers over the years, but my current speakers are the first true open-baffle speakers I've owned. 

I am absolutely smitten with the sound. Musical, dynamic, powerful, and an amazing deep, open, airy sound stage, with none of the weird boxy resonances or port huffing that I've heard from so many box speakers. 

What I don't understand is why there are so few speaker companies making open baffle speakers, and why are they not more popular among audiophiles?
128x128jaytor
sokogear
1,100 posts
 
I had a pair of Alons that had the tweeter and midrange mount on top of the woofer, which was inside of a box. You couldn't tell because it had an interesting angled grill cover so you couldn't see there was no box holding those drivers. They had an amazingly big sweet spot and overall they were very easy to listen to. Kept them for 25 years. 

Just last year replaced them with a pair of KEF R500s that are more detailed, dynamic and have WAY more bass, tighter, deeper. Not quite as big a sweet spot, but still very good in that regard.

I don't think you should generalize about the speaker type because each one has a different design. By and large though, total OBs can benefit strongly form subwoofers, which makes the whole system into a bigger more complicated deal. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,923 posts
 

Yes @jaytor, I neglected to mention Danny has developed his own version of the NEO3, has it made to his specs, and is using it in some of his models, including yours. And thanks for reminding me of that company name---Serenity Acoustics.

There are a group of guys who hang out at the Planar Speaker Asylum, some of whom have replaced the midrange driver in their Magneplanar Tympani T-IVa's with a line of 6 or 7 NEO drivers, I believe the NEO8. The Maggie midrange driver was the weakness in the fantastic T-IVa model (I have a pair), and the use of the NEO8's (in a line source arrangement) partnered with the Maggie ribbon tweeter and double 16" X 72" Tympani woofer panels (which I spoke of above) is a killer combo. I waited too long to acquire a set of the NEO8's, and am hoping they are eventually put back into production.

tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,605 posts
 
There are a number of open baffle speakers sold fully assembled.  I regularly see Emerald Physics for sale on Audiogon, and Nola speakers made a big splash in the audiophile world a few years ago and they're still around.  A google search will turn up more manufacturers, Spatial Audio and Kyron Audio, for example, so open baffle is not DIY only.
jaytor's avatar
jaytor OP
766 posts
 
@tomcy6 - Clearly not just DIY. There are a few well regarded brands. But this is a tiny fraction of the number of box speaker brands, and most audio stores don't carry any. In fact, most audiophiles that I have talked to have never heard an open baffle speaker system (at least knowingly), which is why I posed the question.
mitch2
4,083 posts
 
FYI, in a former life, NOLA was the Alon speaker line of Acarian Systems.
NOLA is Alon spelled backward.
Both are the brainchildren of Carl Marchisotto, who has had an interesting audio career.   
More to discover