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Post by mepositive on Dec 25, 2015 10:00:39 GMT -5
Of late I seem to be hearing more and more about open baffle speakers. Tekton relaunched one call OB Sigma which has one great review so far. There are other brands like Emerald Physics, Spatial, Hawthrone etc
Do any of you have an opinion on them vs conventional speakers. If you have heard them, can you help benchmark their performance across popular speakers.
Thanks.
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Post by Boomzilla on Dec 25, 2015 10:10:10 GMT -5
Open baffle speakers are OK, but only in certain rooms. If your room is large enough to leave between three to five feet of space behind the speakers; if your room is symmetrical from right to left (particularly behind the speakers); if your room is large enough to keep the listening position away from the back wall, then (and only then) should you consider open baffle speakers. Also, if you're expecting low bass from the speakers, then open baffles probably aren't for you.
And by the bye, everything I just said also applies to bi-polar, di-ploar, and flat panel speakers as well. The more problems your room has, the more you want a front-radiating-only speaker. Now I've heard Magnepans sound good with less than two-feet of space between the speakers and the (VERY heavily dampened) back wall, but that was only in a room that was completely symmetrical from left-to-right.
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DYohn
Emo VIPs 
Posts: 18,487
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Post by DYohn on Dec 25, 2015 12:01:48 GMT -5
I love OB and use them in my HT now. The biggest upside difference is they are more omnidirectional than conventional monopole speakers making the sound field more immersive and "live" sounding without the need for DSP tricks. The biggest downside is they are much more sensitive to being overpowered and they require more careful room placement for best results.
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Post by mauriceminor on Dec 25, 2015 12:12:48 GMT -5
Of late I seem to be hearing more and more about open baffle speakers. Tekton relaunched one call OB Sigma which has one great review so far. There are other brands like Emerald Physics, Spatial, Hawthrone etc Do any of you have an opinion on them vs conventional speakers. If you have heard them, can you help benchmark their performance across popular speakers. Thanks. The answer is here: www.linkwitzlab.com |
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Post by Loop 7 on Dec 25, 2015 19:09:20 GMT -5
I've heard a few pairs including lengthy sessions at a friend's house and I'm a believer. I also agree with boomzilla that they may work better in certain rooms. My impression is that the open baffles I've heard seem really fast, sort of like planar but with a great low end.
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Post by mepositive on Dec 26, 2015 13:52:09 GMT -5
My audio room will soon be a 18X20 ft room with nothing in it except the system and one listening chair. As I plan to build an excellent music dedicated room - what speakers would you advise - a tradition one or an open baffle one with maybe a large sub for the lowest ends ?
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KeithL
Administrator 
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Post by KeithL on Dec 26, 2015 16:02:42 GMT -5
Open baffle speakers sound quite different from regular "box" speakers, so you really owe it to yourself to listen to a few different ones before you decide to go that way. As a wide generalization, open baffle speakers tend to sound "open and airy", but often lack deep bass. In general, open baffle speakers produce very little low bass in a large room, and have trouble producing low bass at all in a small room. They usually REQUIRE subs. The only way around that is if you get open baffle speakers that are large (preventing almost total cancellation of all the bass requires a physically large baffle), can handle lots of power, and you plan to supply that power - and put them in a large room that is acoustically good. (Note the power requirements for the Linkwitz speakers - and take them seriously.)
I've found that every open baffle, other dipole, or planar speaker I've ever heard was very fussy both about placement and about the room itself. Therefore, be prepared to put the speaker where it sounds the best, whether the location is otherwise convenient or has a good WAF or not - and, if you aren't prepared to do this, then you should look elsewhere. Linkwitz seems to recommend placing the speakers off to the sides rather than in the front (although there seems to be a conflict there between best imaging and best bass).
I've also personally never heard an open baffle speaker that offered the pinpoint imaging that you get from a good regular speaker. (To be totally honest, some people claim that Maggies can do this when set up correctly but, so far, I haven't heard a pair that could, for example, match the imaging on a pair of Stealth 8's. To me, both planars and dipoles can do a good job of making large groups and orchestras sound large, but they don't make small things, like single instruments and vocalists, sound like a point source standing in one place.) Obviously, whether you consider this an issue or not will depend on what music you listen to, and your priorities.
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