I'd be interested to hear from open baffle speaker owners and how the fact that planars are dipoles figures into much of the pleasure you get from the planar sound. Is that open natural presentation that I could get from my old Maggies due more to the rear wave than the ribbon itself. If so, then open baffle cone designs such as Orions or Alons would get the best of both worlds, dynamics and the holographic imaging. I went from Magnepans to Merlins. I purposely chose Merlins because they present an amazingly deep soundstage and are capable of disappearing as well as any planar I've heard. Although the Merlins have many advantages over the Maggies, and not just in terms of dynamics, but balance and cohesion as well, there is still something I miss about the Maggies. The comparison I use is that both speakers are like windows looking out over beautiful sceneary (take you pick--mountains or beaches). Both offer a clean pristine view. The Merlin window, with better lower level detail, may even offer a clearer view of the world. Nonetheless, its like the Maggie window is open just a crack and you can "feel" the mountain air as you watch the eagle fly. It could be just a matter of taste, however, and the fact that I find the mountain air so intoxicating.
