Plugging ports, yes or no

[quattroll2]

Hi Lounge,

I want to hear opinions on plugging speaker ports. I first had them with a set of B&Ws I owned (supplied) and have made some of my own for other speakers over time.

Some might say use the plugs for tighter bass especially if you have a subwoofer running too. Others might say don’t plug them, just move the speaker out enough to avoid any boominess. If the designers went to the trouble of tuning the ports, it probably makes sense to take advantage of them?

I’m just wondering what you guys think, and sure there’s no one answer for every scenario, just curious about your thoughts.

Thank you all

[ttocs]

When I had Martin Logan Vista speakers with bass ports, I plugged them. Bass didn't go as low when plugged, but the bass was tighter and was better integrated with subwoofers. Don't know why it made a difference with the subs I had, but it did.

My feeling was that Martin Logan put ports in them because they wanted the specs to say it had lower bass.

I contacted ML about plugging the ports to be sure it was ok for the woofers. They said no problem, and to tune as I saw fit.

Full disclosure: Ports are fine with me when well designed. Many extreeeeemly expensive speakers that I really like are ported, so I'm not more in favor of one or the other. Ported or sealed, both fine when well implemented. With that said, my current LCR and subs are sealed.

[geebo]

May 23, 2023 12:04:35 GMT -5 quattroll2 said:

Hi Lounge,

I want to hear opinions on plugging speaker ports. I first had them with a set of B&Ws I owned (supplied) and have made some of my own for other speakers over time.

Some might say use the plugs for tighter bass especially if you have a subwoofer running too. Others might say don’t plug them, just move the speaker out enough to avoid any boominess. If the designers went to the trouble of tuning the ports, it probably makes sense to take advantage of them?

I’m just wondering what you guys think, and sure there’s no one answer for every scenario, just curious about your thoughts.

Thank you all

Here is a thread that talks about plugging the ports on the T2 speakers which I have and have also partially plugged.

emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/57612/ok-port-plug?page=1

[quattroll2]

Thanks Geebo, there’s good info on there. It mentions potential problems around the tuned frequency of the ports, and possibly dulling the output at lower volumes. I think for me I prefer no plug with a low to medium volume and maybe plugged at higher volumes. Now of course I’m not going to do that very often, but the reason why I asked this question was because I just unplugged my bass ports (not sure how many years they were there) and I’m liking the fullness there. Funny thing that, I thought it was better then and now I changed it and I think it’s better this way!

[KeithL]

You are NOT going to get a single answer here... because there is no single answer.

In a properly designed speaker the port is basically part of the cabinet.
The cabinet, the port, the crossover, and the physical properties of the driver are all adjusted to work together.
Therefore blocking, or partially blocking, a port is equivalent to modifying the cabinet.
And, again, in a properly designed speaker, the drivers, crossover, and cabinet are carefully optimized to work together.
And so, if you modify the cabinet, or the port, you are making the overall design less optimal.
(But, if so, whether the difference will be minor or major depends on many factors.)

That said:
- In SOME designs this will make less difference than in others.
- In SOME designs the changes caused by this modification may be "intentional" or "intentionally optional".
   (For example some subwoofers come with "port plugs" which you can optionally insert to intentionally alter the way they sound.)
   (In that situation you are usually being given the option to trade off more bass, or greater bass extension, against cleaner or smoother bass.)
- In some situations it may be an unavoidable compromise.
   (For example, if you're going to put a rear-ported speaker against a wall, then the port will be blocked - one way or the other.)
- And, sadly, some speakers are not well designed, or are designed "non-optimally", and modifying their design may yield a worthwhile improvement.
   (For example, some speakers manufacturers intentionally "tune a port badly", to increase the quantity of the bass they get at the expense of the quality of the bass the speaker delivers.)
   (Speakers like that tend to sound "tubby" or "boomy" and will often - but not always - sound better if you block their port.)

In the case of our speakers... (the ones which are ported)...
They will sound better if you leave the ports open (as they were designed)...
But plugging the ports will generally not have a large negative impact on how they sound... 

For those of you who don't know...
In a typical sealed speaker, at the lower extreme of its frequency range, the response will roll off gradually.
In an otherwise comparable ported design, the bass will remain flatter until a lower frequency, but will then roll off much more sharply below that frequency.
So, again depending on many factors, the sealed enclosure will "seem to go lower" but the ported enclosure will "make more bass".

[LCSeminole]

I've started to find that after 25 or so years of listening to ported Klipsch Legend and Reference speakers that I'm particularly liking/preferring the sealed/plugged sound of tighter bass. After having a leap of faith and moving away from Klipsch, I gave my current Arendal Sound 1723 series speakers an audition(the towers/monitors/center all having ports) and found after a good six months that their sealed sound was definitely preferred to their open ports configurations. Ironically, I was first attracted to Emotiva's first offering of their Reference speakers ERT-8.3/ERM-6.3/ERM-6.2 which are a sealed design and to this day their bookshelf ERM-6.2 speakers are easily one of the best sounding bookshelf speakers to me. I've only heard a few other different speaker models that I prefer, but not by much, except for the "out of my price range" MBL omni-directional speakers.

[SteveH]

I have a pair of Polk outdoor speakers that are ported and actually came with plugs. The instructions just said to experiment with plugging the ports and use what sounds best for your application.

[405x5]

May 23, 2023 12:04:35 GMT -5 quattroll2 said:

Hi Lounge,

I want to hear opinions on plugging speaker ports. I first had them with a set of B&Ws I owned (supplied) and have made some of my own for other speakers over time.

Some might say use the plugs for tighter bass especially if you have a subwoofer running too. Others might say don’t plug them, just move the speaker out enough to avoid any boominess. If the designers went to the trouble of tuning the ports, it probably makes sense to take advantage of them?

I’m just wondering what you guys think, and sure there’s no one answer for every scenario, just curious about your thoughts.

Thank you all

IMHO, all of this starts with the main systems, whether they are acoustically sealed suspension cabinets or ported. Not a fan of mixing a ported subwoofer to an acoustically sealed main system, but that’s just me.

[leonski]

My HSU Research Sub came with ONE plug for a PAIR of ports.
And a switch on the plate amp for 'maximum extension' OR 'maximum output'.......

IMO? Leave the design alone as intended. the guys who did the work also ran the numbers and
used the proper woofer for the enclosure, both size and ports......

You are unlikely to make enough of a difference to not wish you'd add a sub......

If you are curious? Check out design sofrware online and run some numbers / simulations.....
With the modern state of the art, these will be fairly accurate and assume the builder does his or her job.
That is? Real inside volume and port size / shape / length.....

Ports are not an 'add-on' or 'afterthought' but an integral part of the design.....And work with the woofer to produce
the best bass possible from the 'givens'.....