'Real' bass - ported vs sealed speakers

[Berty bass]

I regularly see ported speakers dismissed here as lacking 'real' bass and using their ports to try to manufacture it in some way. As a bass player of some 45 years experience I find this somewhat perplexing as - more often than not - bass players use ported cabinets to play through, specifically to increase bass response in the live setting (recording too - cabinets often being mic'ed up in the studio). So, the question is - why the disparity between the attitude of (some - well, most on here ) audiophiles to ported speakers and that of the players of the instrument whose range these speakers try to reproduce. Genuine question - I'm simply interested in how come ported audio speakers acquired such a bad reputation for themselves, when most top range bass cabs habitually employ ports in their design.

[Berty bass]

Fellow bass-player here. RD regarded ports as things that 'honked' at specific frequencies with the bass being unnaturally accentuated at those points.

Closed cabs do not have that problem and make for a cleaner response through the lower frequency levels.

Also, back walls and positioning are important and different spaces will require different loudspeakers.

[Daniel Quinn]

Ports are an attempt to accentuate the bass of 6.5 inch bass drivers .

If you can't tell the difference between that and a 12 inch driver in a sealed cabinet , don't worry .
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[Berty bass]

How many bass players are into getting the finest possible bass sound from their speakers? And how many buy whatever's been marketed to them?

On top of that, how many professional bass drivers made today are suitable for sealed cabinets and how many for ported?

Sealed generally equals bigger woofers for the same extension. To do bass well at high volumes with a sealed cab, you don't want the cabinet joining in with the music too much - with bracing / damping / mulitple layers adding to the weight. There's the portability aspect.

On top of that ported woofers tend to be better for avoiding over excursion.

In hi-fi it's not just bass guitars that are being played. It's bass drums, bass synths, double bass, kettle drums, organs, bassoons. The speaker adding some character to the sound may be OK as a bass guitar monitor. It's less ok for a hi-fi speaker.

And there's a large element of stupid fashion.

Back in the 1960's Rudy Bozak did a series of tests where he played single cycle bass tones through various speakers and measured the results with a microphone and oscilloscope. Even the best speakers he tested were poor at recreating the imput signal accurately. But the worst ones were shockingly terrible. The less bad ones from his test were the sealed box Bozak speakers. The worst were ported speakers. With this being matched by how they sounded. His description "bass bloom" from ported speakers.

The vast majority of ported speakers that I've heard have had bass bloom.
There have been the odd ported speaker where I'd rate the bass as OK. With these being speakers with 15" or bigger woofers.
As a genre, the slimline ported low efficiency speakers I've auditioned haven't just sucked in the bass, the midrange has been below par when compared to decent high efficiency speakers.

Amongst my speakers I'd rate my EV Sentry III's as having average bass from their ported 15" woofers.
Infinite baffle Bozak Symphonies have good bass from twin 12" drivers.

[Berty bass]

Unless you are playing in a big successful band then portability is a big (little) thing. It's a pain in the ass storing and lugging the stuff around. You bass players have got it easy. Most musicians I know want their equipment to be as small as possible and that is usually vented. And overflowing with digital new devilry.

There is something obviously not quite right about ported bass compared to sealed box. However, living in the real world, the vast majority of music listeners want their equipment to be as small as possible. Hence 6.5" mid bass with a port.

I am currently using small standmounts with 5.25" mid bass and a rear port. I know what their disadvantages are but couldn't care less. Its very liberating to not care and just enjoy the music. Plus I don't feel the need to be in a gang, look down on others and endlessly argue the bleding point on a subject that has been done to death.

[Lindsayt]

I am currently using small standmounts with 5.25" mid bass and a rear port. I know what their disadvantages are but couldn't care less. Its very liberating to not care and just enjoy the music. Plus I don't feel the need to be in a gang, look down on others and endlessly argue the bleding point on a subject that has been done to death.

This is a hi-fi forum. Which means that there will be a group of people on here that tend to take a lot more interest in audio equipment than the average man in the street.

Having specialised interests in one's life is fine.
As is having a specialised interest and then losing interest in it and focusing on other stuff instead.

[Berty bass]

I bought a pair of ported speakers last week - Royd Edens. The port has very little output, and they can go up against the wall. I'd describe the bass output as near enough non-existent. But, because their low frequency response falls away early and sharply, they're fairly easy to integrate with my 10" sealed subwoofer. It's an OK compromise for when I don't want my hi-fi 'out in the room'...

[Berty bass]

How many bass players are into getting the finest possible bass sound from their speakers? And how many buy whatever's been marketed to them?......

Back in the 1960's Rudy Bozak did a series of tests where he played single cycle bass tones through various speakers and measured the results with a microphone and oscilloscope. Even the best speakers he tested were poor at recreating the imput signal accurately. But the worst ones were shockingly terrible. The less bad ones from his test were the sealed box Bozak speakers. The worst were ported speakers. With this being matched by how they sounded. His description "bass bloom" from ported speakers.

Quelle surprise - the 60's tests you describe were undertaken by the man whose own speakers did best in the test. If that's not an example of the very marketing you accuse bass players of being (more?) susceptible to (than other communities?), I don't know what is.

I don't know what you mean by 'bass bloom', I'm afraid. That sounds like the kind of phrase someone in search of a problem has made up to contextualise the 'superiority' of their own product. And, to answer the question in the first sentence: many. Our strings may be thicker but that doesn't mean we are.

For the record (no pun intended), my (Hi-Fi) speakers are Rega RX5's with front facing ports. Front facing are my own preference as they seem to me to give a consistent performance and are less dependent on positioning in relation to walls etc. It's my preference with my bass cabs too (2 custom Purple Chili 1x10's if anyone's interested). I did audition some ATC SM19's at the same time as my Rega's and thought they lacked scale in comparison. I was moving from Kudo X2's at the time.

The question was more of a conceptual one, so I appreciate the 'history' referenced above. I can't help being just a little suspicious about the authenticity of the tests mentioned though, given the vested interest involved.

[Berty bass]

Like many, I guess, my choices are at least a little compromised by available space / room layout.

Regarding ported speakers, I've mostly had better results with front-ported vs rear-ported in my room. That may be because the front ported bass is more directional / a more direct sound with fewer reflections. I'm not sure. A set of Proac floorstanders with down-firing ports were OK at a bake-off in my room, but some rear firing ports have created a very messy, boomy sound. Room interaction, speaker placement, listening position all play a part, I think.

My preference is sealed box, especially if I can get enough bass from them. That needs a larger, high quality driver and ideally a cabinet that can work well near a wall. There are not so many of those around, commercially. DIY opens up more possibilities, and Doc-modding vintage Magnums and Dovedales has potential. The NVA Cube 1 (sealed box) has plenty of bass (the impression of bass is enhanced by wider dispersion) and can go reasonably close to a wall, so they are another option. Larger woofer with front port could also be worth a try in my room, especially if the design is high efficiency (like the 15" full-range Fanes that Vinyl-Ant has mounted in a large cabinet with aperiodic port)..

The only speaker, so far, that convinces me to let them take over the room (5 feet behind them is optimum in my space) are Quad 57s. They are a little bass light, but there's just about enough, and they are pretty magical in other ways.

[Berty bass]

Quelle surprise - the 60's tests you describe were undertaken by the man whose own speakers did best in the test. If that's not an example of the very marketing you accuse bass players of being (more?) susceptible to (than other communities?), I don't know what is.

I don't know what you mean by 'bass bloom', I'm afraid. That sounds like the kind of phrase someone in search of a problem has made up to contextualise the 'superiority' of their own product. And, to answer the question in the first sentence: many. Our strings may be thicker but that doesn't mean we are.

For the record (no pun intended), my (Hi-Fi) speakers are Rega RX5's with front facing ports. Front facing are my own preference as they seem to me to give a consistent performance and are less dependent on positioning in relation to walls etc. It's my preference with my bass cabs too (2 custom Purple Chili 1x10's if anyone's interested). I did audition some ATC SM19's at the same time as my Rega's and thought they lacked scale in comparison. I was moving from Kudo X2's at the time.

The question was more of a conceptual one, so I appreciate the 'history' referenced above. I can't help being just a little suspicious about the authenticity of the tests mentioned though, given the vested interest involved.

Bearing in mind that my EV Sentry III's have average bass on my scale and my Bozak Symphonies have good bass on my scale, the reality lives up to Bozak's marketing.

I regard Rudy Bozak talking about bass from speakers in the same vein that I regard Richard Dunn talking about load rejecting phono amplification with no transformers in the signal path.

Ivor T talking about how he tried various turntables in his youth was unsatisfied with them all, so he came up with the LP12, which is the best turntable in the world is a different kettle of marketing fish.

Bass boom isn't a particularly apt phrase for describing the bass from ported speakers that have extended bass. A bass drum will boom out into a room when played live.
Bass bloom is an apt term in my book for describing the bass from speakers like Spendor BC1's and EV Sentry III's. Bloom as in a flower spreading out.

If the ATC 19's sound anything like their 11 smaller brothers, I'd agree with you in avoiding them.