Are there any speakers with ports on the sides instead of front or rear?

toxcrusadr

Omelette au Fromage
Just got to thinking about this in relation to a speaker building project. One problem with rear-ported speakers is you can't shove them back against a wall, which many listeners have to do because of room limitations.

There are certainly speakers with side mounted woofers...the AR9 for example. Why not side-mounted ports?

I can't think of a reason this wouldn't work. Theoretically you can put the port anywhere you want, right?

So why haven't I seen one like that? :idea:
 
It's got to be a marketing/logistical/aesthetics thing. Manufacturers didn't want a bunch of old audiophiles calling down there asking for "mirrored" port layouts.
 
Theoretically you can put the port anywhere you want, right?

Yep.
Although I think some rear port designs are meant to boost bass via wall bounce...which I tend to think only muddies the sound.
Side mounted passive radiators are common enough.
I don't see a problem.
 
Just got to thinking about this in relation to a speaker building project. One problem with rear-ported speakers is you can't shove them back against a wall, which many listeners have to do because of room limitations.

There are certainly speakers with side mounted woofers...the AR9 for example. Why not side-mounted ports?

I can't think of a reason this wouldn't work. Theoretically you can put the port anywhere you want, right?

So why haven't I seen one like that? :idea:

I had a JBL L60T years back. Used a hole sawl to drill a new hole in the front and moved the port tube from the back to the front panel ...
Glued the hole saw "plug" into the old rear hole to finish the job.There may be phasing issues moving a port from back to front -
but putting one on the bottom or sides is a deeper challenge one would think.
Physically easy, of course.
 
Well if I'm building them from scratch the mirror image layout shouldn't be a problem. I hadn't considered that as a reason you don't seem them commercially.

This is a big line array with the old Pioneer NSB drivers (which I've discussed here before but haven't built). It would require (4) 6" dia. ports so I could put two on each side if I wanted.
 
That gives me an idea for ports front, back and mirrored sides. Then a kind of port plug to seal off the unused ports. Gives options further down the road, different house, different furniture, walls. Or not.
 
JBL B460 has side ports.

attachment.php
 
My PSB Image B15s are fronted ported. I had a pair of Technics SB-T200 which were ported in front and back.
 
Just got to thinking about this in relation to a speaker building project. One problem with rear-ported speakers is you can't shove them back against a wall, which many listeners have to do because of room limitations.

There are certainly speakers with side mounted woofers...the AR9 for example. Why not side-mounted ports?

I can't think of a reason this wouldn't work. Theoretically you can put the port anywhere you want, right?

So why haven't I seen one like that? :idea:

Dunno about commercial ones, but I asked a similar question a few months ago re: my home build. In that case, I put the ports on the back as I don't have a grille to cover them up on the front, and case seemed too small for bass tube on the side.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/bass-port-front-back-or-side.812662/
 
Last edited:
DJ/pro/PA speakers have handles and such, would it kill the home speaker mfrs to give us a little something to safely lift their offerings?

Maybe but it will raise the WAF to the fore front. Thats a battle I rather avoid.
 
Back
Top Bottom