Front port vs. Rear Port

I would agree...most cheaper "ports" are simply a hole to increase bass response and to some extent sensitivity/efficiency...that being said...the best "ported" designs take into account phase cancellation,distortion,etc to obtain accurate bass reproduction(ie no boom-box bass)...unfortunately this comes with a high labor/design cost...usually at the 1k level...the new Quad Ls I own have two distinct "chambers" each with their own port...and Im sure damping,etc comes into play...the bottom line: placed away from walls...they produce clean,deep,tight bass...and I am not of fan ports to begin with...but when executed properly...they can sound amazing...and even at high volume there is no audible "chuffing"....once again...it comes down to performance vs. on paper design tendencies...I have heard many highly touted sealed enclosure designs that couldnt compete (ie no bass)....

The problem with most all economical ported designs is that the upper bass (around 100hz or so) is slightly elevated to give the speaker more extension down lower. Most ported designs, even expensive ones, roll off pretty fast below about 60hz. Some ported speakers are actually allowed to go with a bigger boost at mid to upper bass frequency's so that you think they have more perceived bass than they really do. You get these speakers close to a wall and boom, the room boundary increases this even more.
I like sealed speakers for this reason. They are more inefficient and evidently more expensive to build since you see ports in the cheapest of speakers (build wise).
If I had to go with a port, get one with the port in the back or bottom.

Thanks to all-- I appreciate the info. I clicked on the "near backwall placement" thread and it was helpful too. As long as we're on the topic, the range of monitors I'm looking in is the SF Concerto and smaller Energy Veritas, that sort of thing (around $1.5K). Given a small apartment-- listening area is about 10' x 10' and whole room is 13' wide x 27' long x 9.2' high-- i listen across the width of the room--what are your suggestions?

Please keep in mind that I don't want to get too far ahead of my front-end equipment-- I'm running a Rotel rsp-960ax preamp into a Parasound HCA-806 (6 X 80 wpc if I recall correctly). I anticipate upgrading the amp set-up to use the Parasound for center and surrounds only, and power the mains with a nice ss 2-channel amp like a little Bryston. Down the road, I definitely anticipate biamping the mains using the 2 channel solid state for the lows and a tube amp for the highs--nothing too esoteric though.

In short, I need speakers that will work nicely with my current mid-fi set-up but that will be good enough to take me through a couple substantive upgrades over the next couple of years.

Once again, thanks a lot.

D.