Hi Rja.
The Sason is a vented design. The designation is a modified QB3 alignment.
We favor bass that sounds like music - not just impressive low frequencies. A lot needs to be considered for bass to contribute appropriately to the music and that's a whole other topic but...
I admire acoustic suspension designs and normally favor that type of bass tuning when kept at a max. of 0.7 system Q.
However, between the particular mid/bass driver we're using with it's modifications applied to it and the modified QB3 bass alignment I don't miss the virtues of a sealed box design and I don't need to tolerate the drawbacks of a sealed box bass loading.
The modified QB3 bass loading of the Sasons: The port incorporates a laminar flow device - fancy talk for loading the port with straws. There's a slight twist to that though which I won't go into.
This straw arrangement is adjustable allowing for tuning the bass to the acoustic environment and/or to taste. Tune the vent in on direction and you accomplish a slower roll off in the bass that reaches deeper and is better damped. Tune it the other way and you can accomplish a warmer fuller sound that might compliment a room that's lossy in the bass.
Most mid/bass driver's peak to peak excursion capabilities will not accommodate this type of tuning. The driver will crap out. Drivers that do have the Xmax capabilities have significant flaws in the midrange that preclude them from being useful in what we wanted to accomplish with the Sasons.
The bass tuning we're doing is a novel approach and works beautifully to serve the music if it's done correctly and specific to a given driver that can handle this type of loading.
Cheers!
Robert
RSAD
