Open Baffle Systems.

[lsiberian]

http://linkwitzlab.com/builtown.htm

This is a very intriguing design IMO.

http://linkwitzlab.com/surround_speaker.htm is perhaps most interesting. It appears to be a very simple design to build which is very appealing. Please note it's only for music not home theater.

 

[its_bacon12]

It depends what kind of sound you like.

There really aren't the kind of dynamics with these designs as you can get with boxed speakers, with multiples - but again, it's very design dependent.

I like the open baffle midrange sound but for bass, it's very thin for my taste. Also, I don't have a listening room, it's not practical for me nor do I really want that to begin with - but these are dedicated to music listening as you outlined.

Those surrounds, who knows. I find that single driver systems and open baffle, dipole, and the lot have a cult following really that I haven't gotten into, no matter how simple.

To me, a good 3 way more typical design just can't be beat. Go for it if you'd like to try somethin different but don't praise nor discredit it until you hear it.

 

[MJK]

I think that the biggest problem people run into when trying OB for bass reproduction is that they think they can use the same drivers that they would use in a ported or sealed box. Typically the woofers Qts is low (0.3 - 0.4) and if used without EQ the result will sound thin and bass light. If you go that route you end up needing some form of boost or EQ which leads to an active set-up, things get complicated quickly.

If you want a simple OB or dipole system, you need to think differently when selecting the drivers. In my opinion, based on personal experience, a large pro woofer with a Qts value of about 1.0 and a SPL that is 6 to 10 dB/W/m higher then the midrange and tweeter works well and does not require anything more then a passive crossover. It is not too difficult to get bass approaching 40Hz with an OB and down into the 20 - 30 Hz range using an H frame. On my site you will find an H frame system that is designed to get into the low 20 Hz range, measurements show that it does meet this low frequency design goal. Maybe it will not reproduce sound effects like a room shaking sub or one of those car systems, but it does a very credible job on the 1812 overture.

A dipole system can produce strong deep natural bass if it is designed correctly. This can be achieved using multiple amps and an active crossover or one amp and simple passive crossovers but it requires correct driver selection and careful design work. Winging a dipole design is just as bad as winging a boxed design, trial and error usually leads to error.