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Ported or sealed box speakers. Which do you prefer?

Which do you prefer? Ported or sealed box speakers?

  • Ported

    Votes: 21 15.8%
  • Sealed box

    Votes: 58 43.6%
  • No Preference

    Votes: 54 40.6%

  • Total voters
    133
The mechanism of nonlinearities transferring energy from inaudible frequencies to audible frequencies is a real one but the magnitudes are too small not unlike a lot of other audiophile nonsense concerning DACs, cables, amplifiers, and the like. Resonance is primarily a linear motion although perhaps a tad less so near a peak (inertia and stiffness are strongly linear but they cancel at a peak leaving the weak damping force to control the motion and this can be more nonlinear although not greatly so). In order for a part of the small nonlinear part of the motion to alias and become audible the resonance needs to be strongly driven. There may be plenty of energy in a frequency response test signal but there is little energy in music at ultrasonic frequencies particularly on CDs. The numbers are too small. This shouldn't be a surprise given how many smart people design and use metal tweeters. And if it was a real problem then the first thing people would do to reduce the effect is low pass the signal. Is this standard advice when using speakers with metal tweeters?

I understand your point regarding the bandwidth of CD and of most mics. SACD and vinyl have considerable ultrasonic noise though, and JA mentioned this when measuring such speakers.
And why has (hard-domed) tweeter design focused on pushing the break up higher, away from the audible range?
What about noise-shaping and tweeters with a resonance peak that's 10dB above the audible range like the BnWs I mentioned previously?

BSSFIG06.jpg

B&W Silver Signature, individual quasi-anechoic responses of woofer,
and tweeter on tweeter axis at 45" and corrected for microphone response,
with nearfield woofer and port responses below 400Hz and 1kHz, respectively.
Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/bw-john-bowers-silver-signature-loudspeaker-measurements-part-2
 
Sorry, I may have been replying to a "rude" post...

Actually, no, you weren't replying to a rude post - you were replying to someone who was trying to have a discussion with you. As it is, i'm disinclined which, to be frank, is your loss.
 
I always wonder the reasons for tweeters with super high frequency responses when most microphones fail to reach 15khz. I use a wide range including some rather tasty DPA and they top out at 15khz and most my other stuff really struggle to achieve 12khz and above.
 
I voted ported, as that is what I have, and I like them, rather than anything more scientific. Royd Minstrels.

My lounge isn’t huge, and I wouldn’t want massive speakers. It is my impression that the ported design gives more bass than I’d otherwise get from that size of speaker.
 
Actually, no, you weren't replying to a rude post - you were replying to someone who was trying to have a discussion with you. As it is, i'm disinclined which, to be frank, is your loss.

No offense given, no offense taken.
 
What I am getting at with tweeters is that in the original recording there is nothing above 12 to 15khz from the microphones. Anything above this you hear has to be classed as either. An artifact or noise.
 
What I am getting at with tweeters is that in the original recording there is nothing above 12 to 15khz from the microphones. Anything above this you hear has to be classed as either. An artifact or noise.

I agree.
The energy at 20kHz in classical recordings is almost always below 60dB. Ppop/rock is almost always close-mic'ed and heavily compressed and EQ'ed but it's usually below 30dB anyway (on those tracks I've run trough a spectrum analyser).

This site has of measurements of different cymbals but the Earthworks M30BX mics roll-off at 30kHz and are positioned much close at 5'' from the surface:

Cymbal Reviews with Spectral Analysis - DRUMMERWORLD OFFICIAL DISCUSSION FORUM

In the first example the level is 45dB down at 20kHz.

One could arque that the sound level of the drum kit is generally toned down in a mix but this might be mitigated be amount of compression that is usually applied subsequently.

k4LCmEX.jpg
 
I'm now careful with spectrum analysis. When I ran it over short but identifiable events like cymbal crashes I saw a different picture to the long term average. A cymbal crash is short, but long enough for you to hear its timbre, grain etc.
 
What I am getting at with tweeters is that in the original recording there is nothing above 12 to 15khz from the microphones. Anything above this you hear has to be classed as either. An artifact or noise.
Signal above 22 kHz can be at a high level from some NOS DACs
 
I voted ported, as that is what I have, and I like them, rather than anything more scientific. Royd Minstrels.

My lounge isn’t huge, and I wouldn’t want massive speakers. It is my impression that the ported design gives more bass than I’d otherwise get from that size of speaker.

Royds do ported better than most.

I'd say all the shop bought ported speakers i've owned have had worse bass than sealed, but ported done properly is often more linear and can sound just as tight as sealed. What people don't appreciate is how difficult it is to tune a ported speaker correctly and how much influence the bass driver has on the quality of bass. Also stuffing is very important in a ported speaker if you want subjectively tight bass.
 
What people don't appreciate is how difficult it is to tune a ported speaker correctly and how much influence the bass driver has on the quality of bass.

Nigh on impossible, given how much the driver parameters change with temperature and how non-linear many of them are.
 
Nigh on impossible, given how much the driver parameters change with temperature and how non-linear many of them are.

Exactly. The driver I have in my current 5" 2-way speakers doesn't change much with temperature.
 
Royds do ported better than most.

I'd say all the shop bought ported speakers i've owned have had worse bass than sealed, but ported done properly is often more linear and can sound just as tight as sealed. What people don't appreciate is how difficult it is to tune a ported speaker correctly and how much influence the bass driver has on the quality of bass. Also stuffing is very important in a ported speaker if you want subjectively tight bass.

The problem with ported bass is that it sounds like ported bass.
But if the the system is tuned to a very low frequency then this not overly noticeable.
 
The problem with ported bass is that it sounds like ported bass.
But if the the system is tuned to a very low frequency then this not overly noticeable.

What you should have said is "The ported speakers I have heard sound like ported bass but I haven't heard them all, so can't really give an accurate opinion".
Tuned low will give you something very similar to sealed and often better if tuned low enough (I have some here tuned to 18hz)
 
What you should have said is "The ported speakers I have heard sound like ported bass but I haven't heard them all, so can't really give an accurate opinion".
Tuned low will give you something very similar to sealed and often better if tuned low enough (I have some here tuned to 18hz)

I agree that if tuned below the threshold of human audibility then it's low enough and should be inaudible.

I will stick to my opinion that any ported speakers will sound like ported speakers (but I will add) as long as the system is tuned to a frequency that is audible.
 
On a side note, my opinion is that a larger low excursion woofer has the potential to perform better than a small long-excursion woofer.
 
I will stick to my opinion that any ported speakers will sound like ported speakers (but I will add) as long as the system is tuned to a frequency that is audible.

I would have agreed with you a few years ago.
 


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