Open Baffle speakers??

[DesertRatt]

I couldn't locate where the sound was coming from, but, at the same time, I was able to hear the positions of the musicians in the sound field. And the sound stage was huge with great depth.

That's a pretty good description. I've had my OBs for a couple of months and it is an amazingly unique kind of sound. Hard to describe, really. I've been trying different speakers for 50 years, and never heard anything quite like this sound. There would be many ways to nitpick the sound in certain areas - - for example, the bass is a little loose, the highs are a little rolled off, etc. But....the OVERALL feel of the sound is so organic and whole that I just don't get bothered by the nitpicky stuff. It brings a huge smile to my face.

 

[Powertech]

I have thought of building OB speakers in the past, but my own research has shown that my room environment just won't support them, so I went for transmission lines instead (a different can of worms).
Some OB designs have side walls around multiple high efficiency bass drivers to offset some of the long wavelength baffle losses.
They seem to benefit from drivers with wide flat response curves in order to better match dispersion characteristics of different size drivers, each mounted on a different width baffle section to minimise differences in 2pi and 4pi radiation response. Due to 2pi radiation levels increasing with increasing frequency the crossovers can take some time to get right.

Like a lot of things = Just because the look simple, it doesn't mean that they are..

 

[opnly bafld]

There would be many ways to nitpick the sound in certain areas - - for example, the bass is a little loose, the highs are a little rolled off, etc.

To be clear, you are describing your particular speakers, not all open baffle speakers, right?

That description could apply to many box speakers.

 

[DesertRatt]

To be clear, you are describing your particular speakers, not all open baffle speakers, right?

That description could apply to many box speakers.

Yes. Just describing mine.

 

[Nat]

Rothwell - of course you are right that the size of the baffle affects when/what frequencies start cancelling out. I thought I'd made that point by talking about the advantages of a very large baffle, such as a whole sheet of plywood.

 

[gizzyman47]

My main speakers, Emerald Physics are OB's. Have had them for about 6-7 yrs now. Truly special sounding and engaging. I still have and like traditional speakers. They are all fun to listen to and have their own positive qualities, but in the end, the OB's do it for me.

 

[rothwellaudio]

Rothwell - of course you are right that the size of the baffle affects when/what frequencies start cancelling out. I thought I'd made that point by talking about the advantages of a very large baffle, such as a whole sheet of plywood.

Sorry, I must have missed that.

 

[rothwellaudio]

if you want faithful low distortion speakers with very deep bass extension, controlled dispersion patterns keeping the sound off ceilings and floor where early reflections can compromise the sound you need to look else where.

Open baffles have a figure-of-eight dispersion pattern which means they radiate least towards the side walls and the ceiling.

 

[Nat]

Actual instruments and voices radiate into 360 degrees of space. Closed box speaker radiate into 180 degrees (at least initially). And closed boxes absorb half the driver's energy (and even ported speakers do this for much of the frequency spectrum). So it isn't surprising that dynamics and in room sound differ greatly between open baffle and enclosed speakers. Of course, the back wave cancellation of open baffles is a huge impediment to good sound (just as the resonances of a box are for those enclosures).
But - if positioning is right and the room is big enough so that the backwave is in phase at some important frequency, open baffles can be very dynamic and clean sounding.

 

[AudioGMan]

With open baffle speakers If you do it right you won’t ever want to go back to a box speaker. It’s like if you had burgers all your life and then you try a phenomenal steak. It’s kinda hard to wanna go back to burgers. The lack of coloration will be immediately noticeable with OBs. An OB also needs the right room and they have to be at least 2-3 feet or more away from the walls and corners.

 

[opnly bafld]

Yes, that is what i'm seeing. I am yet to experience this first hand, but the small circle of gentlemen i am following have found using a 15" full range with an open center which they mount a dome tweeter on the magnet using a spacer and an open back on the tweeter along with a 18" woofer in somewhat of a closed baffle have created one bad ass speaker. Its where i'm headed. A few of these guys own Klipsch speakers, which are now parked in the closet as they enjoy their open baffle creation much better. This new design they have created is said to simply blow away any other open baffle on the market under $15,000. You can build these for $1000 to just under $2000 for the lastest creation. I think its worth a try.

ABX/LDA?

 

[AudioGMan]

Yes, that is what i'm seeing. I am yet to experience this first hand, but the small circle of gentlemen i am following have found using a 15" full range with an open center which they mount a dome tweeter on the magnet using a spacer and an open back on the tweeter along with a 18" woofer in somewhat of a closed baffle have created one bad ass speaker. Its where i'm headed. A few of these guys own Klipsch speakers, which are now parked in the closet as they enjoy their open baffle creation much better. This new design they have created is said to simply blow away any other open baffle on the market under $15,000. You can build these for $1000 to just under $2000 for the lastest creation. I think its worth a try.

Yes I know about the OBs you’re referring to. Everyone is going to have their own opinion as to what is the best way to design an OB. Me personally I prefer a smaller driver(around 5”) to handle the midrange frequencies because those are the most difficult to reproduce accurately so a low moving mass can perform that task better than a heavier one. I also don’t like a crossover point in the critical midrange section so roughly from 300Hz to 3kHz. I find just about every speaker violates this. Either way I agree that you can build OB speakers that rival speakers that cost 5-10 times as much or more. Good luck with your build.