This is just my subjective opinion, but my sense from listening to speakers is that true acoustic suspension speakers tend to sound a bit congested compared to other configurations be they infinite baffle, which are also totally enclosed, or ported, or speakers using passive radiators, which are sort of in between in a way. When I was in college in the early 1970s I worked at a high end store in the Seattle area. We carried JBL, Altec Lansing, both representing the ported school, AR and KLH, acoustic suspension and electrostatic for KLH, Bozak, infinite baffle, Klipsch, horn loaded. In other words the store had the goods of the day. McIntosh introduced their ML series speakers, which were acoustic suspension. Initially we displayed them in a room along side Bozak and within months the rep informed the owner that our speaker sales were lagging his other Mac dealers. The elephant in the room was Bozak. We moved the two lines into separate rooms and sure enough Mac speaker sales picked up. Customers were getting confused. For me the Bozaks sounded easy, the Macs forced. Before I graduated I bought Bozaks. Another example, love them or hate them was the Bose 901. Originally an acoustic suspension design, but starting with the Series III a ported speaker. I felt and feel that the speaker worked better once it was ported. More open, freer, easier sounding. Later I bought Ditton 66 speakers, a passive radiator design, very easy on the ears, nothing forced about them at all. So that is my take on why acoustic suspension speakers have gone into decline. They simply don’t sound as good as others all else being equal.
