Andrewjvt said:
Not so long ago about this. I think someone pointed out that it's a hifi myth that rear ported effects the bass worse than forward ported close to walls (does not make sense I know)
Hope the person will clarify
But if you want free of bass port altogether get a sealed speaker.
The position of the port on any properly designed speaker is irrelevant so long as it is not so close to a boundary as to restrict airflow.
Boundary reinforcement of bass is well known and a few manufactures do design for near wall placement, classic Linn and Naim speakers were designed this way, as are some modern designs from Neat, Guru and of course Chebby's Audionotes.
Most speakers are designed to work best with a bit of space, this, generally speaking, gives a better soundstage and a more open, spacious sound, designers like this as the speakers 'review' better.
Making the bass adjustable for different positions is not easy to implement in passive designs but is commonplace in most small active studio monitors (even the AE1a have this) where it is carried out by the active crossover, often with the aid of dsp.
This is another reason why such speakers work so well in the home, my Adams are normally used within about 6 inches of the backwall, for practical, domestic reasons. The bass shelving allows me to adjust the bass to suit and though these are relatively simple models without dsp, the adjustment works fine.
Even speakers like the budget Presonus Eris 5 (less than £250pr) have comprehensive adjustments to allow for different positions and other controls to then balance the speaker to your requirements, more sophisticated designs such as the Dynaudio Lyd make these adjustments using dsp ans still cost less than £1k all but the biggest models.