Hello jaytor! Open baffle speakers are harder to place properly in a room than "boxed" speakers. My big system features the Linkwitz LX521-4 speakers: open baffle, 4 way, one amp for each "way" (eleven channels total - a 5.0 setup) and it's wonderful. Try putting a rug on the wall (hanging) behind the speakers if you're having any trouble. Thick, soft and fuzzy is best. I have two other systems using open baffle (Magnepan LRS and DIY) speakers. I love them! BUT - when a person is looking at speakers, they see the raw drivers, no nice cabinets, and they see the price tags. They know (or can easily look up) the price of the raw speakers themselves and wonder "Why am I paying XX thousand dollars for drivers that cost only 20% (or less) of that?" They forget the cost of the crossovers (lots of copper, not cheap), the packaging (much harder) & shipping, and the cost of the labor to put the thing together. It may not seem like a good value. Professor Linkwitz called his best system "521" because he tried many many baffle shapes and didn't get the "right" one until the 21st of May! "Bud" Fried's (the father of the transmission line) wife complained that she could never invite people over because the living room was always full of wood boxes and sawdust from her husband's experiments. Getting anything right takes time and money and effort.
Done right, open baffle speakers (remember the Dahlquist D-10 and some early sand-filled flat panel Wharfdales?) sound wonderful just because there is no box, no enclosure colorations. Many audiophiles are men with wives; and I don't need to finish this paragraph, do I? They just don't look like furniture (the speakers, not the wives). "You're not putting that thing in MY living room!" can be heard in many homes! I am blessed with a very wondrful and tolerant bride! Keep listening!
Done right, open baffle speakers (remember the Dahlquist D-10 and some early sand-filled flat panel Wharfdales?) sound wonderful just because there is no box, no enclosure colorations. Many audiophiles are men with wives; and I don't need to finish this paragraph, do I? They just don't look like furniture (the speakers, not the wives). "You're not putting that thing in MY living room!" can be heard in many homes! I am blessed with a very wondrful and tolerant bride! Keep listening!