Does port location make a significant difference with regard to speaker placement?


Hi all, 

Pondering a speaker upgrade this fall, and with Axpona cancelled I am just going to head out and shop.  If I'm trying to "fix" anything with my current setup it might be some bass muddiness on certain tracks.  I could turn the Loudness off but why, LOL.....

Anyways, as I look for speakers am I expecting too much to say that moving from a rear ported speaker to a front/bottom ported speaker would be worth the effort to clean this up?  My speakers have decent proximity from walls and corners, but suspect I'm not perfect here.  I've also played with absorption behind speakers with some success, some failures.  

So looking for first hand experience in changing speakers and port locations, and the impact on sound, considering same speaker placement.  

Thanks in advance.  

EW
128x128mtbiker29

Showing 1 response by classdstreamer

Based on the picture in your profile, that's a good looking system! The distance of your speakers from the wall looks pretty good too. 

A handful of things (you probably know many of these):
1. Is the base still muddy when you turn off the sub? If no, and assuming you don't have a high pass filter on your mains, the sub may be the culprit.
2. Is the base still muddy when you stick a sock in the speaker ports? Many speakers/subs come with foam inserts to tailor the sound of the bass region. 
3. What feet are you using on the Monitor Audio Silver 6 and the sub? I placed Herbies Threaded Gliders under my speakers and some Hudson Hi-Fi feet under my sub, and those made a giant difference in cleaning up my muddy bass. Speaker/sub isolation is essential for me.
4. To hit the price point of ~$1000, the Monitor Audio Silver 6 make some compromises. The bass region may be one of those compromises, so an upgrade may be in order since you're looking for that next level up in quality.