[wushuliu]

Wider baffles also have the potential to realize a higher speaker sensitivity vs. a narrower baffle.

[jimdgoulding]

Hi Jim, I bought a pair of those long time ago, need to update my avatar!

I remember you, bro.  Thanks for the love.

[Tcaster]

My infinite baffle guru says wide (with a formula) is the only way to go if you want to get any bass out of this type of speaker.

So I decided to stop being lazy & try to look it up on wikipedia.  Seems that baffles may haven been made wider / larger as a way to minimize driver back-wave interference which could cause attenuation of lower frequencies (?)  Perhaps later designs used enclosure & filling materials & techniques to reduce this potential interference, allowing for the more effective use of smaller or narrower enclosures (?).  That's my best guess if I'm reading the wiki correctly.

The Stereophile review of the Orangutan seemed to suggest some people liked the way a properly designed wide front baffle could affect the sound / tonality?  Guess I should be asking the open baffle circle people as well.......

[Tcaster]

Oops I meant open baffle