@seadweller as ozzy62 hinted at, it’s all a matter of application. Either can perform well or badly, depending on how each has been handled. Most open baffles to me lack the punch and depth of a boxed speaker, while most horns I’ve heard exaggerate sound to give the most beautifully timbred but unrealistic presentation ever. There is a narrow band within either typology where quality of sound is at its most dynamic and realistic: with horns, there are simply too many variables to simply tie it down to a single factor, but in any case, the only good horns begin not full sided but with variations of truncated sides for the avoidance of that typical exaggerated character - very very few horns get this right even. With dipoles, it can only begin with field coil drivers for true full range open baffles. The qualio is not a true full dipole, but present realism so well by mixing and matching its open baffled mid and high frequency drivers beautifully with a bass reflex low end, allowing greater bass extension through a rear port while boosting energy with regular cabinet walls for quality of sound one should have to pay two times more for. Many known ‘dipole’ speaker manufacturer will augment their bass frequencies with regular cabinet enclosures or even subwoofers, but for the narrow spectrum of all the nuanced bass, natural dynamism and realism of reproduced sound that a true full range open baffle speaker can deliver, the expensive but powerful field coil driver is the only currently known way to go.
In friendship, kevin