Aaron, welcome to AC, and a special welcome to the Open Baffle Circle.
I thought about your question for a while, and I think I can offer why I tried it.
I bought and used the Visaton b200 for over 7 years on OB. I found them absolutely entrancing with sax and electric guitar, especially when paired with an SE EL84 amplifier.
The very same driver was used by AC's own Louis O of Omega Speaker Systems for a speaker he called the A8 in an aperiodic alignment.
I have never heard the A8, but knowing the driver like I do, I imagine it would have worked very well.
Why did I decide to put it on OB vs trying out a different alignment? Well, I was interested to learn more about what some other folks were talking about, how the OB sound was different. Lots of commercial designs use OB alignment, and many people really like the way that they interact with the room differently it seems, than a sealed or ported design.
Do you have a specific question about it, or did I manage to touch on what you were asking?
Lots more math/science types around he could likely offer some more objective answers about the rationale, but for me (a purely subjective guy), I liked what I heard so I kept experimenting.
Have fun!
