Brad,
I would still tend to disagree with your assertion that TL speakers shouldn't be compared to ported. Since small and large speakers, with deep, and not so deep base, have been offered in both designs... as well as sealed & infinite baffle, for that matter. I think most people look for the best compromise between price, sound, and size.
Since there are small speakers made with each of these base systems the listener has to choose based on those three criteria, even if they are looking for a small speaker. The only base system I'd categorically eliminate from their choices would be horn loaded... even a "folded" horn loaded design would not be competent for a small, say "bookshelf" speaker.
Fried, DCM, and others, have offered true bookshelf sized speakers over the years, that benefited from TL porting. Of course, due to their size (and subsequent TL length), they didn't go super low, but then again neither did their Vented, or sealed counterparts.
Cliff
I would still tend to disagree with your assertion that TL speakers shouldn't be compared to ported. Since small and large speakers, with deep, and not so deep base, have been offered in both designs... as well as sealed & infinite baffle, for that matter. I think most people look for the best compromise between price, sound, and size.
Since there are small speakers made with each of these base systems the listener has to choose based on those three criteria, even if they are looking for a small speaker. The only base system I'd categorically eliminate from their choices would be horn loaded... even a "folded" horn loaded design would not be competent for a small, say "bookshelf" speaker.
Fried, DCM, and others, have offered true bookshelf sized speakers over the years, that benefited from TL porting. Of course, due to their size (and subsequent TL length), they didn't go super low, but then again neither did their Vented, or sealed counterparts.
Cliff