Electrostatic Vs. Open Baffle Speaker Designs

Hi All! I know this is a vague question. But can y'all make some general comments on your experience when listening to these two types of speakers?

For instance, every time I've heard electrostatics, imaging was just amazing. Voices and individual instruments just seem to hang in the air, and stay in a constant, small location. So, that's how I describe them to people.

But, I've never had the opportunity to hear open baffle speaker. So, are there any comparisons that can be made?

 

Yes, I have owned both and have been using using Open Baffles for the past 3 years. I will not use any other type of speaker again as these are damn near perfect (I listen to a lot of Hard Rock, Prog, Blues, Folk, Electronic, Reggae, Ska & Dub)

There are a few provisos:

1. Both Electrostatics & OBs benefit from subwoofer bass reinforcement & I wouldn't use either without. It is possible to achieve good bass with multiple large 12" or 18" drivers in OB H-type push-pull frames but they still didn't give the slam I wanted.
2. I use magnesium/alu midrange drivers which are lightning fast and produce very realistic transients - much more impact than the Es's. By not moving air within a cabinet, OBs have great dynamics & notes/vocals start/stop in an extremely realistic fashion. Drums, acoustic instruments, pianos & vocals on my system sound exactly like the real thing.
3. My OBs have ribbon tweeters that display the same delicate 'hang in the air' quality as Es's
4. Imaging is pin point and holographic BUT OBs do require a lot of space away from rear or side walls
5. My speakers use active crossovers with very steep slopes, multiple amplifiers as well as digital time and phase alignment

Overall, from my own experience I would say that Es's are light and quite fragile sounding (really beautiful) whereas OBs can be equally airy but have more punch and slam...... Kate Bush vs Aretha Franklin if you like

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to write that.

 

I've been on the hunt for a pair of Wharfedale SFB3's for quite some time. All I'm gonna' say.

Nah, I guess I can. Cone-drivers in the right enclosure design can do amazing things. I know someone who has both the SFB's AND a pair of ESL's, and the SFB's stand right up to the Quads according to him. Each has it's little strengths and weaknesses, but he said the SFB's didn't break a sweat. I don't know, maybe some people are 'stat people and others are cone people. I'm definitely a cone person. I love my W90's, which use the same woofers and tweeters as his SFB's, and I have a pair of $1000 Wharfedale Dentons that have spent the past year in the box they came in because I can't pull myself away from these things. If you want imaging, those will give it to you. You just have to be spot-on tight with the placement distances. I think the SFB's are a little easier to place because that system only uses one tweeter (The W90 cab uses two tweeters, one at the far-left and another on the far-right, which is kind of the whole point of that design... The tweeters each need to be the same distance from each other... Each cab is a dual 3-way system).

The SFB3 uses an upfiring tweeter, plus a front-firing woofer and midwoofer, mounted on an open-baffle. There were a few different styles for that model, but the key is the drivers. If you can find a pair with later drivers, they won't have to be refoamed. As far as amplication, it's tubes, tubes, and more tubes. And not the colder, more-neutral-sounding ones. You want warmth. Those drivers feed off it. And if they have alnico drivers (a good chance of that), then you'll want to give some serious thought about the brand and type of capacitor you use, as the old alnico Wharfedale drivers can be awfully-finicky when it comes to that.

If you're a jazz/classical guy, then go for the SFB's, but if you're an old blues/classic-rock guy, then definitely go for the W90's. Wonderful drivers either way. The old Super 3 is a very-versatile tweeter.

 

What do you think about Pure Audio Project's offerings? The seem fairly reasonably priced considering the quality drivers that they use and offerings for almost everyone's taste. I'm a fan of single driver speaker designs and the Trio15 Voxativ is super cool looking and not only is it a Single Driver that covers the main frequencies, but also OB ... kind of like the best of both worlds for me. Two 15" bass drivers (that are designed for OB's) would seem to cover the bass issues associated with OB's as well.

 

I have not heard the Trio15 Voxativ but it certainly reviews well & comments support my own listening experiences with OBs. They look good too.

The description quotes 'deep bass' & 35hz-20khz but without a +/- dB figure, true low end impact is hard to assess. It's always a compromise - speed & dynamics of OBs vs the absolute depth & slam of a cabinet subwoofer.

 

Imaging compared to electrostatics? Touch the trumpet....?