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Ported versus sealed speakers: is one type better?

Have two systems of wildly different scale and cost.  My main rig features Wilson Watt/Puppy 7's, while at my vacation cabin the system features Totem Rainmakers.

Got me thinking recently that both are ported designs.  And many box speakers are indeed ported designs.

However some of the best and most costly speakers are sealed - not ported.  Examples include Magico and YG Acoustics among others.

 I realize ports are just one aspect of the overall design but I'm seeking opinions on whether one is inherently worse than the other (ported versus non ported)?

Thus would a Magico or YG have an inherent advantage over a Wilson, Rockport,  Von Schweikert or other top ported design?

Any thoughts?
bobbydd
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

A lot of c**p being sprayed around here.
Drivers have a huge amount of specs and have preference for one or the other enclosures if built correctly.
To say to plug a port on a ported enclosure and believe the same driver is still in now an ideal sealed enclosure is BS, and then there’s the stuffing that comes into it.

In my first post, Nevile Thiel (rip) has said the correct thing.
Also he said to those that don’t know, to get a the same depth of lows that a ported box has from a sealed enclosure, size is greatly increased, and I’ll add, sealed also tighter/dryer and less colored when done right.

Cheers George

mozartfan
2,143 posts
 
Ported, ,,all the way,, 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
twoleftears-
Transmission line is best when properly implemented.
 Inclined to agree. First speakers I built were transmission lines using the 1980 Speaker Builder Design of Roger Sanders. For drivers I used the 10" woofers from my JBL L25. The bass was obviously, considerably, impressively better than when the same driver was in the ported JBL. More efficient, smoother, deeper. Not even close. 

The one advantage the JBL had was size. The L25 is a lot smaller and lighter. That too is a design consideration. But as long as all we care about is sound quality, transmission line all day long.
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,977 posts
 
I have to agree with you George on your point about stuffing ports. How many reviews have all of us read about a ported speaker that was causing room modes or some other issue, and the answer was to plug the ports with bungs? I do know enough to know that a speaker is either designed from the get go to be sealed or ported, and there is a big difference; so how could it be proper to do that?
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,182 posts
 
No. There are just good designs and less good ones. 
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