Front ported

[Vladimir]

Unless you have two exactly same speakers, with only difference being orientation of port - front or back, tests wont be valid.

For me, my extensive experience is valid enough.

Why not bore an extra hole in your KEF LS50s to satisfy everyone's curiosity? *biggrin*

 

[plastic penguin]

There's always going to be pros and cons with any ported standmount. But to alleviate any possible 'boom' in small rooms, front ported is a better compromise IMHO.

Agree with nopiano: there needs to be more sealed boxes.

 

[ErwinC]

Unless you have two exactly same speakers, with only difference being orientation of port - front or back, tests wont be valid.

For me, my extensive experience is valid enough.

Why not bore an extra hole in your KEF LS50s to satisfy everyone's curiosity? *biggrin*

Not needed.

I owned 5 pair of front ported speakers and 2 closed ones the last 10-15 year. All of them worked well close to the back wall. Of the 20 or more back ported speakers i tested or owned, most produced too much bass when placed close to the back wall. That says it all for me.

 

[Al ears]

Unless you have two exactly same speakers, with only difference being orientation of port - front or back, tests wont be valid.

For me, my extensive experience is valid enough.

Why not bore an extra hole in your KEF LS50s to satisfy everyone's curiosity? *biggrin*

There's two in my Quads....

 

[Vladimir]

Unless you have two exactly same speakers, with only difference being orientation of port - front or back, tests wont be valid. 

For me, my extensive experience is valid enough. 

Why not bore an extra hole in your KEF LS50s to satisfy everyone's curiosity? *biggrin*

Not needed.

I owned 5 pair of front ported speakers and 2 closed ones the last 10-15 year. All of them worked well close to the back wall. Of the 20 or more back ported speakers i tested or owned, most produced too much bass when placed close to the back wall. That says it all for me.

Back in my uni days I owned a pair of Cerwin Vega AT-12s that moved the curtains behind them quite a bit through the blowhole. Especially when playing Plastikman.
Since then I've kept my choices more closed cabinet in design.

 

[lpv]

what a bunch of idiots from jbl entertainment.. they choose front ported cabinet in their small cabinet Master Reference Monitor series.. worse in every possible way, audible port chuffing, annoying in smaller listening distances, mess up the midrange, you may hear resonances, reflections etc, garbage pipe in your face, myriad of issues. *dash1*

 

[Vladimir]

I'm giving manufacturers benefit of the doubt, but I'm sure some of them place blowholes at the front for marketing purposes.

 

[Vladimir]

what a bunch of idiots from jbl entertainment.. they choose front ported cabinet in their small cabinet Master Reference Monitor series.. worse in every possible way, audible port chuffing, annoying in smaller listening distances, mess up the midrange, you may hear resonances, reflections etc, garbage pipe in your face, myriad of issues. *dash1*

Only reason why you would put a blowhole on the front is to leave an option for placing speakers against a wall, which studios do often.

If a speaker was tuned for placement against a wall or inwall mounting, logical decision (compromise) is to place the blowhole at the front. And that speaker will sound the best against a wall because it was tuned to do so in the drivers, cabinet, crossover. Has nothing to do with location of the blowhole.
If a speaker is designed to sit away from walls, ideal place to alocate the blowhole is at the back. So when you place that speaker too close to a back wall and sounds like poo, its not because of the blowhole. Everything in its design requires placement away from walls.
There is no bass coming out of the blowhole. It's omnidirectional. During earthquakes you don't get more earthquake blowing out of pipes.
I can't simplify this any further.

 

[nick8858]

Not sure if theres a definitive answer on this. I have owned a front ported pair of Acoustic Enerby AE1's and a rear ported pair of Neat Iotas. Both excellent in every way so in my view either works well in a well designed product. The Neats are 3 inches from a wall and are perfect. The AE1's were also backed up to a wall and were similarly perfect.

 

[ErwinC]

The small Neat Iotas need back wall reinforcement to produce some bass.

 

[nick8858]

The small Neat Iotas need back wall reinforcement to produce some bass.

Not true they work just as well in free space. Have you owned them to try both options?

 

[Al ears]

The small Neat Iotas need back wall reinforcement to produce some bass.

Not true they work just as well in free space. Have you owned them to try both options?

There's a lot of myths going around about closeness to rear walls and porting. In my opinion the vast majority of speakers need space as we are not after studio monitors are we? Hopefully not......Anyone live in a studio?

 

[ErwinC]

The small Neat Iotas need back wall reinforcement to produce some bass.

Not true they work just as well in free space. Have you owned them to try both options?

No. I owned and tested some very small rear ported speakers and most of them worked better close to the back wall. When placed further away, they sounded lean.

 

[ErwinC]

The small Neat Iotas need back wall reinforcement to produce some bass.

Not true they work just as well in free space. Have you owned them to try both options?

There's a lot of myths going around about closeness to rear walls and porting. In my opinion the vast majority of speakers need space as we are not after studio monitors are we? Hopefully not......Anyone live in a studio?

I agree that most speakers need space, but many people don't have the space. In that case and ime back ported and closed speakers work best.

I also read some german audio magazines and when they test and rate the speakers they also provide the best placement with respect to the back wall.

What is wrong with studio monitors?

 

[Al ears]

The small Neat Iotas need back wall reinforcement to produce some bass.

Not true they work just as well in free space. Have you owned them to try both options?

There's a lot of myths going around about closeness to rear walls and porting. In my opinion the vast majority of speakers need space as we are not after studio monitors are we? Hopefully not......Anyone live in a studio?

I agree that most speakers need space, but many people don't have the space. In that case and ime back ported and closed speakers work best.

I also read some german audio magazines and when they test and rate the speakers they also provide the best placement with respect to the back wall.

What is wrong with studio monitors?

I'll not go down that stony road.... ;-)

 

[lindsayt]

The small Neat Iotas need back wall reinforcement to produce some bass.

Not true they work just as well in free space. Have you owned them to try both options?

There's a lot of myths going around about closeness to rear walls and porting. In my opinion the vast majority of speakers need space as we are not after studio monitors are we? Hopefully not......Anyone live in a studio?

No, but I would prefer to have speakers that sound best against a wall or corner than speakers that sound best when placed out into the room.

I'd rather not have 2 roundabouts in my room, with trailing trip hazard wires behind them.

 

[Al ears]

The small Neat Iotas need back wall reinforcement to produce some bass.

Not true they work just as well in free space. Have you owned them to try both options?

There's a lot of myths going around about closeness to rear walls and porting. In my opinion the vast majority of speakers need space as we are not after studio monitors are we? Hopefully not......Anyone live in a studio?

No, but I would prefer to have speakers that sound best against a wall or corner than speakers that sound best when placed out into the room.

I'd rather not have 2 roundabouts in my room, with trailing trip hazard wires behind them.

That's your prerogative of course. Kind of cuts down on choice for many thought. I can understand many have placement issues though in modern small rooms.

 

[lpv]

That's your prerogative of course. Kind of cuts down on choice for many thought. I can understand many have placement issues though in modern small rooms.

lindsay lives in a massive house with massive speakers so space is not a problem for him, yet he prefers spekars right against the wall or - better - in corners.

 

[lindsayt]

That's your prerogative of course. Kind of cuts down on choice for many thought. I can understand many have placement issues though in modern small rooms.

lindsay lives in a massive house with massive speakers so space is not a problem for him, yet he prefers spekars right against the wall or - better - in corners.

If I were a multi-millionaire and fuel bills were not a problem I wouldn't be happy with a Bentley Bentayga as stopping every 350 miles to pump another 80 litres into the tank would be a chore when compared to something that would need 65 litres every 700 miles.

Just because you have a relatively large amount of something, doesn't mean to say it's in your interests to waste it.

 

[ErwinC]

No, but I would prefer to have speakers that sound best against a wall or corner than speakers that sound best when placed out into the room.

I'd rather not have 2 roundabouts in my room, with trailing trip hazard wires behind them.

+1

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

my pmc 2021 definitely need a wall behind them to beef up the bass,otherwise they are a bit on the lean side if you listen more than a metre or so away,the difference between the two positions is vast and i would compare it to hearing a completely different speaker altogether.

 

[Waxy]

This is a familiar problem after a Friday night meal from my local curry house.

 

[tino]

My speakers have lateral (sideways) firing ports. Not sure if that's better or worse than any other port placement but they sound good and make great grab holes for moving what are rather heavy speakers 🙂

 

[nopiano]

My speakers have lateral (sideways) firing ports. Not sure if that's better or worse than any other port placement but they sound good and make great grab holes for moving what are rather heavy speakers 🙂

I agree, the best thing about ported floor standers is you get something to grip without accidentally getting near the drivers!