Fidji
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Seems like the speakers being sealed is really the only necessity for ease of integration. A ported sub only has phase/GD issues around the port's tuning frequency, which should be well below where it works be interacting with the other speakers. Or am I overlooking something?
Yes, if you look at it from purely subs-mains integration perspective you are right and there are lot of fine ported subs out there and you will be getting benefits of ported enclosure in terms of bass extension, sensitivity and size.
My reasons to go for sealed were multifold:
- lot of subs in my system - with 8 subs in relatively small room [rear subs approx 2m behind seating position] port noise would be audible
- room walls are 30 cm concrete - I get room gain below 1st modal frequency of almost 6dB, so “room is my bass reflex” ;-)
- it’s easier to integrate 8 subs between them, if they are sealed [on the low end]
- its easier to integrate infra subs later or combine several types of subs, if you intend to build your system gradually [which I do]
As some have mentioned, maybe even more important id the quality of internal DSP - quite often you have subs being pushed to the limit for couple of Hz if low end extension to pimp up specs and you end with 12 in woofers and 500W amps “18Hz in room extension” This is why I have decided also to go for passive subs, dumb amps and shallow enclosure [to have as much as possible boundary gain]. I handle all the DSP via processor [including HPF, limitations etc] and it allows for better thermals and cable management.
But overall, my philosophy - do as much as you can in “analogue domain” - have good speakers with proper off axis behavior, place them properly, have as much excess capabilities, ideally absolute overkill in FR extension, SPL levels, watts etc - e.g. if you want to cross over at 80Hz make sure your speakers are good down to at least 40Hz and 110dB ;-) and most importantly have your room properly treated. Then just add some finishing touches by DSP.
They are not playing it fair though since they are exclusively using MIMO capabilities of the receivers. To you and me, only a graphic equalizer (not even parametric) is available and even that has been obliterated by removing any equalizer for subwoofers from the equation.
This is my system and my measurements. And I have nothing else than my individual listening impressions to support the statement, that there is audible difference between them. Both FR charts were almost identical.