open baffle speaker question

I had David Lucas open baffles a while back. It took 4 12" woofers to generate good bass. The sound was very encompassing because it did radiate in virtually every direction. You can't call that good imaging...However, you have to be very careful about placement so the rear wave doesn't interfere with what you hear. Also, they tend to be fairly inefficient. A Lowther in an open baffle should waste a lot more energy than one in a properly designed cabinet. Keep in mind that tweeters aren't open baffle. So a design with a super tweeter is a compromise.
I still have single driver speakers but in a cabinet that properly channels the bass and is much easier to place in a room.

Hi Hotmailjbc,
Atmasphere explained it ideally, even though most planars, ribbons & electrostatics are open back, they are usually refered to by their own terms. Open baffle normally refers to cone drivers mounted without a chamber. What design did you see specifically. I have built many speakers on my own. They place to start is the FRD Consortium. These are not tools for a beginner, but for standard designs will give you the information that you need to do designs that compete with some of the best. good luck, Tim

thanks for all the advise/info. i have seen pictures and papers on lots of designs. what got me thinking about this is the wild burro site where he had some drivers called the betsy on sale and the speaker was a sheet of good grade plywood with some side wing type boards. i like to learn and experiment and keep it really affordable and figured 150 bucks to get my feet wet would be sort of fun. i just was interested in if this would be a good idea before i invested a day assembling this. thanks again john

Hell, yes! Try something new. Have fun!

Eye candy.

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