Our Guitar Speaker Tonal Characteristics and Application Guide has an "Application" column recommending the best choice of enclosure for each speaker.  It is a parameter-based recommendation considering the total Q or Qt of the speaker.  If the Qt is above 0.7, we recommend open back.  If the Qt is below 0.7, we recommend closed back.  A speaker with a Qt relatively close to 0.7, can be recommend for both.  There are a few cases with very efficient and lively speakers, where the wrong enclosure application, combined with certain amps, guitars and playing styles, can accentuate and or result in undesirable nuances in the speaker…more commonly known as cone cry.  This is hard to control and can usually only be solved by changing the speaker or the enclosure.

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