Open baffle speakers

[stereoman]

Hi all. Just a question to all of you who had a listen to open baffle (floorstanders) speakers. How can you describe the sound ?

 

[insider9]

I've heard these

They were as scary to listen to as they are too look at. Much larger than me and I'm not that short at 6ft. Required an assembly as far too heavy to transport in one piece. And were fully active. Completely different experience than anything other I've lisetened to. I'd love to have spent more time listening to them.

You need a large room for open baffle

 

[insider9]

In case anyone is wondering these were I believe 2 x 18 inch woofers, 12 inch one and not sure about size of midrange and ribbon.

 

[busb]

A friend had a pair a few years back that may have then Danish in origin (can't remember any more) but they they had a very spacious sound but needed to be not just near a rear wall but up against it to produce bass. They sounded good to my ears, good imaging as well.

 

[DocG]

I have (modified) Magnepan MMGs in my main set-up. The speakers take care of > 100 Hz signal (below goes to the sub). They sound very open (I guess cos there's no box involved) and do transients really well. Large scale dynamics are limited (compared to conventional cone and dome box speakers), though the addition of the subwoofer helps a lot here.

I have the speakers about 70 cm into the room (best compromise sound quality vs. WAF). We invited the whole family for X-mas eve, so I had to move them really close to the wall for the sake of space (but I kept the 20° toe in). And the sound stayed remarkably good. I found out that it's most important to keep them far enough from the side walls. So a smallish room shouldn't keep you from trying OB speakers. It's a case of suck it and see... (as it is with any speaker).

 

[MajorFubar]

IMO you need a large room to get the best from these. Other than the price, I reckon that's the main thing precluding them from use in an average home. It's certainly a sure fire way of preventing box coloration at least.

 

[Rethep]

Mine are Peitho 303. Kind of semi open baffle, as they work under 4khz as dipole, and above not. Also they still are 'boxes', but open (no port!). Looks a bit like an open transmission line.
Very spacious, detailed, and even dynamic, because it's still a cone speaker. Although ill advised for headbangers.