I have an open baffle system I built. It has been shelved for some time because I need to figure out how I'm going to deal with baffle step correction.
It consists of a 15" woofer on a 48" x 18" flat baffle. The woofer is no longer made, but it was inexpensive with high Qts and high efficiency and I love it.
For the mid/high frequencies I can alternate between two drivers. I have drilled holes for both of them, but run only one at a time.
One is the Visaton B200.
The other a 3" Tang Band w3-871, no longer available.
I am using a JVC surround sound receiver to provide a cross-over to the woofer.
Without baffle step correction, the system sounds best crossed at the highest frequency allowed by the receiver 200Hz.
The woofer sounds excellent at this cross-over point, but it sounds even better crossed at 150Hz and better yet crossed at 120Hz.
The Visaton B200 has some great midrange magic. However, without baffle step correction and its naturally rising response the top end is a little hard to take.
I suspect it can be tamed with the right network, but how that would effect the midrange magic I do not know. The top end other than being bright though is not too bad.
The Tang Band w3-871 clearly has more accurate high frequencies than the Visaton B200. As a whole I find the w3-871 more enjoyable than the B200.
Both drivers really need some baffle step correction to get flat to 200Hz. Still the w3-871 seems flatter than the B200 across the listening band without any correction.
The setup with w3-871 almost works, and the system plays as loud as a care to listen, although it is not concert level loud by any means.
I suspect with a corrective filter though that I might run out of volume head room. The bottom end of the w3-871 sounds great, but doesn't quite have the magic of the B200 in the lower mids.
Maybe someday I will run this setup as 3-way baffle step corrected.
I will also mention that I have experimented with wings and that creates resonances I don't like and it effects dipole dispersion.
I really think a flat baffle is the way to go. It is also easier to move around.
I am really curious about the Tang Band 5" w5-2143. I have never heard it.
The frequency response graph looks too good to be true.
The on-axis response graph is better than the 4" and 6".
I'm thinking that if I wanted to make a 2-way work this might fit the bill.