Open baffle speakers

Plenty of acoustic suspension designs produce far superior bass to most OBs IME. Though who am I to judge since I am no musician? Lol.

I’m “baffled” that after more than 100 responses nobody mentions the room the speakers are being used in. OB speakers are the first that worked in my room. Prior to that, even at low volumes, three different ported box speakers (two standmounts, one floorstander) excited the room and muddied the bass significantly. My current OB speakers, Spatial Audio M3 Sapphires are heads and tails better than those speakers IN MY ROOM, so much so that I’m having a pair of endgame OBs custom-made as we speak. 

Honestly, the conversation is a waste of time without considering the room. Open baffle speakers are incredibly room friendly as long as you can have them a minimum of three feet out from the front wall. For anyone who has struggled finding a box speaker that works in their room, try open baffles. They make fantastic bass even in small, difficult rooms, no subs required. 
 

Like box speakers, every OB is unique. People are referring to OB’s as if each is the same simply because they’re OB’s. I fail to understand the logic in that.

Those I posted were each created by one custom builder. They’re not a speaker for everyone. But I found them to duplicate music very accurately, especially the bass. I’ve never heard more authentic bass from a speaker as those OB’s.

@Coltrane1 our experiences seem very similar. The bass is sublime. Way more textured and detailed than any box speaker I’ve heard.

I honestly don’t know why a certain segment of the audiophile community has made it their mission to denigrate a particular speaker design. Variety is the spice of life and all that. I wish there were more commercially available open baffles (excluding ribbons and quasi ribbon dipoles). As it stands they are quite rare. I guess that’s the reason you and I have gone the custom route.

Maybe the bass is "way more textured" because open baffle speakers tend to use an accordion rather than foam surround?

I use JBL 2241H (18")  and 2251J (~10") woofers in ported cabinets and these have accordion and double roll, respectively, rather than foam surrounds and are extremely textured in the bass. I am not a fan of foam surrounds even if they go a bit lower. I have JBL AlNiCo 2235s (foam edge 15") in my L200/300 cabinets and the texture of the bass, especially things like stand-up string bass, can’t compare.