Building TV cabinet; should I use wall speakers or bookshelf type speakers behind fabric?

Yes, speaker height above all else.

As for ports, I've never had any issues with either front or rear.

However, very small ported speakers at volume might have issues.

It's a nice idea to have them behind fabric.

I'd prefer not to see the speakers.

In the old days, to verify if a fabric was ok in front of speakers, we would blow cigarette smoke thru the fabric, see and feel the resistance.

a sample corner, the fabric would get stained from the smoke quite easily, sure glad I quit.

@elliottbnewcombjr ,
 

Well that's one way of doing it!

I'm assuming the BBC, after trying a different experiment, decided to use Tygan for their legendary LS3/5s.

However, there must be other sonically transparent grille materials out there.

You just breathe thru it, easy? OK. no visual help from smoke these days unless my friend David is around, I just realized, happily he is the only friend I have who still smokes (happily meaning myself and all other friends quit).

btw, Smoking Money became good 4 me.

I quit when I was 40 (73 now). Decided to give myself a treat with my tobacco money, spent that amount on music and/or music equipment: carton a week was $700./year in 1988.

I wasn’t thinking long, just encouragement not to go back to smoking as I had so many times before. Never imagined how it might add up.

Gave myself a rise in pay along the way, each year, whatever a carton a week cost, up to $4,200/yr now.

Any insurance actuary here who can approximate what these 33 years has added up to $ _____?

Somewhere around $80,000. ?