Wayne Parham Messages: 18751 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
There is edge diffraction, and it is present in all loudspeaker cabinets of all shapes. Some prefer to round the edges of speakers to reduce it, but it still doesn't prevent it.
I used to build cabinets with rounded edges and my cabinetmakers hated that. At one time, they brought it to my attention that they couldn't hear the difference, and asked me to host a listening party to find out if anyone else could either. I had two similar speakers playing - the same model of Pi Speakers - one with rounded edges and the other without. Nobody could hear the difference.
It wasn't a blind test, but it was done with a bunch of college-age kids that had had no preconceived notions. They were all young enough to have great hearing but they had no reason to believe one way or the other. So I considered their subjective impressions to be good information. My take was that the edge diffraction reduction from the rounded cabinet edge was inaudible.