Open Baffle Experience

Moonwatcher….I would note that your room is not really an issue for open baffles as long as you can have them 3-4’ out from the wall and as long as you match the woofer size/bass output to the room. 

I own the Spatial Audio M3 Sapphires....so count me as an OB fan. AC has a whole section devoted to OB not specifically sponsored by any manufacturer...here is a link for some light reading.

My general overall comment about OB sound is most of the advantages of a panel speaker but with some of the advantages and dynamics of a box speaker as well...without the supposed box sound.

The suggestion to just throw away the box is somewhat simplistic in that the bass and midbass will sound weak. The better sounding open baffle speakers don’t have this issue because the designer selected drivers to compensate and produce a balanced sound. 
 

OB speakers are not inherently better than box speakers… they are different sounding… on some instruments the tone sounds more correct… but as noted the bass pressurizes the room differently. 
 

I’ve heard great box speakers, panel speakers and OBs… and the nice thing about shows like CAF is you can usually hear them all, albeit different rooms and gear. 
 

They are definitely worth a listen. 

I often think that at the shows, what we think is "overly bright" is in fact "overly loud" for the room/treatments...and compared to how we will position and listen at home.

I’ve read some things in this thread that don’t jibe with my experience. I’ve had great box speakers that didn’t sound boxy. I now have Spatial Audio M3 Sapphires that are not forward and not harsh. I’ve driven them with a class d 2Cherry, an Orchard Audio GaN class d Stereo Ultra and a Wells class a/ b biased to 15 Watts class a… the speakers completely disappear with all 3 amps. 

Im pretty sure there is no “better” in term of hearing… there is just preference…at any rate, open baffles are not inherently better or worse but it is absolutely possible to get very musical sound from them.