Open Baffle. Why are they mostly limited to DIY?

This is all interesting. I would be surprised if buyers of planars and stats considered open baffle, even though they all need lots of space and none of the technologies are known for being lookers. 

I’ve never heard an open baffle subwoofer but those who have say the bass can’t be beat because it doesn’t disturb the room modes or nearby neighbors and the tone and texture is life like. 

Yeah I imagine that a lot of sound is lost due to cancellations, unless DSP is used. 

Since they don’t disturb room modes would it be safe to say that they are less picky about placement? Or do they need to be loaded in corners? 

thanks for the suggestion on the gtaudioworks. Those look like Magnepan killers. 

Yesterday I received some Betsy open baffle speakers made by caintuck audio from an Agon seller and I can't stop listening to them. They are laughably good for the money.

It does sound like the band is playing in the room. When you hear a speaker without a crossover, you learn what coherence is. When you hear a speaker without a box, you learn what the box sounds like. When you hear a good speaker without a box or mid/tweet crossover, you begin to question conventional designs.

This speaker does need bass reinforcement though. At some point today I plan to add my REL to see how it blends.  



   

I did own the Lii Audio F15s OB for a short bit. That may be the amp out of phase as Atmosphere mentioned. It could also be due to wide frequency response dips and peaks, with missing treble off axis. The person I bought them from was using Mini DSP to correct for Baffle Step (rising response) and also to boost the bass to compensate for bass cancellation from front and back wave.....I could never get them to sound as good without DSP and I am generally an anti-DSP person otherwise.

If you buy a USB measurement mic and use REW measurement software (free) you can see exactly what is going on with the response. IMO a great $100 investment.