Does port location make a significant difference with regard to speaker placement?


Hi all, 

Pondering a speaker upgrade this fall, and with Axpona cancelled I am just going to head out and shop.  If I'm trying to "fix" anything with my current setup it might be some bass muddiness on certain tracks.  I could turn the Loudness off but why, LOL.....

Anyways, as I look for speakers am I expecting too much to say that moving from a rear ported speaker to a front/bottom ported speaker would be worth the effort to clean this up?  My speakers have decent proximity from walls and corners, but suspect I'm not perfect here.  I've also played with absorption behind speakers with some success, some failures.  

So looking for first hand experience in changing speakers and port locations, and the impact on sound, considering same speaker placement.  

Thanks in advance.  

EW
128x128mtbiker29
I essentially agree with clearthinker. Ports are a way of pushing the bass cut off a little lower at the expense of a much steeper cut off. I have never heard a ported loudspeaker produce what I consider to be accurate bass.
With todays high powered amplifiers,  DSP and the incredible drivers we have today you can make a sealed woofer/subwoofer do almost anything you want without any port noise. 
Clearthinker in my experience 30 Hz is asking a bit much of a panel speaker. I roll my Sound Labs off at 120 Hz to sealed subwoofers. The Sound Labs will go down to 40 Hz nicely if a bit on the lumpy side but removing the bass from them creates a large improvement in midrange and treble clarity not to mention headroom. How many ESLs have you seen do 110 dB without vaporizing? Another benefit is that distance from the front wall becomes less critical. 
Not sure where you are located-common oversight when OPs ask for
some ideas-They may well miss out on an opportunity to meet another
member right next door. 

Admin- Can you make a short list of suggestions people will read
prior to submitting a question?

RMAF is still on. Change your tickets!
I've had the MA Silver sizes.  Delightful.  Yes, if you plug them they will sound better in near wall placement.

@classdstreamer good questions and thanks for the compliment.  
1) Sub is not in the 2 channel mix currently - that's a future tweak, moreso when I step up to a nice REL or ??
2) Since pic was taken I've added Gaia 1's
3) Haven't tried plugging the port but that's on the agenda for tonight.  
4) I hear you on upgrade, but will say I listened to a $12K set of speakers the other day and was thinking system to system they were no beter than what I had....these do punch way above their weight class.  So far the only speaker that really wowed me as a clear upgrade was the Focal Sopra 2, which size wise might be an issue.