I had my first experience of an OB speaker 14 months ago from now.
It has changed my perception of sound imaging a lot.
Open baffle speakers have space behind them till the wall facing the listener.
In my limited hearing space, I felt that 3 dimensional space between speakers and the walls is the canvas for the speaker to make the soundscape.
The moment OB speakers throw sounds to me andto the wall in front of me, sounds seem to take the stage in front of me and start a ballet. Depending on the source's sound design, that dance of the sounds is so captivating that I smile in myself most of the time when I listen to my OB. The difference in 3D feel is like the same as in a 2D movie and a 3D movie.
I have not listened all my CDs through those speakers yet, most of the CDs are in Kolkata only. Some few CDs (Indian Ocean, Silk route, Dohar - a Bengali band, Pink Floyd) that I have here create such a soundscape (or imaging whatever you call it) that is impossible to dislike. The illusion is superb.
Those same CDs make a 2D image on the plane of the box speakers whenever I play them through. I have tried moving my box speakers away from wall (not by 3 feet though like OBs) but the plane remain fixed with the speakers. those box speakers sometimes disappear but still fail to make a 3D image.
That I think is the most beautiful gift from an OB speaker.
Plus, there is bass, bass blast like a natural sound. A foot pedal hitting a drum can be realized in my OB, which I can't do with my cabinet seakers. I am not familiar with words that can express sounds correctly to an audiophile, so bear me. Bass from OB is clear, precise, not lean, not heavy. Listening it is like being able to identify different sounds produced by beating a table with your bare hand but having different kind and thickness of cloths on top of the table. Bass is there, but not over encompassing mid. Bass is true bass.
Ofcourse my cabinet speakers are not of abosolute quality but they are quite famous in their own countries to start with. Where as my OB is made of drivers from Ahuja and are actually intended for public anouncements. Performance per investment is too good for OB and that is another advantage but I will stick to beauty of it only for now.
I think, beauty of OB shines the most in mid. Identifying a cymbal location in a blank space is a wonderful thing but identifying a vocalist standing just by the side of the cymbal or say a bass guitar but a little up front while he or she is breathing in is something different. And how about realising that she/he is actually not present in front of you if you open your eyes? It is that real for the mid. Older sound recording of Ghazals proved more captivating. Listen to "Aaj Jaane ki zid na karo" by Farida Khanam recorded live through an OB, you will understand.
I would love to read experiences of other OB users. Friends here are listening OBs for a longer period than me...reading their feelings will be encouraging for me.
For friends who haven't yet listened music through an OB system, I request earnestly to do so.
Another two (advantages) of OBs are
1) wider sound stage than their speaker distances
2) use room effect to the advantage. The front wall (of the listener) actually become the end of the stage for the speakers. OBs use reflection off the front wall in its advantage. You have to do some trials to get the sweet spot.
Right now I am listening to two albums of Indian Ocean, Black Friday and Desert rain in them. I have listened live performance of Indian Ocean and the Desert Rain resembles live performance (at least the MP3 files that I have does so).
NOTE - all photos are of OB made and updated by me .
