Which is worse: port close to wall or woofer close to wall?

[riker1384]

I have an Infinity PS-8 subwoofer that I'm going to use for music in my bedroom. (Actually a pair of them, but I only have a placement issue with one.) The driver is in front and the ports are in back. Space is limited so I'm going to have to put a few inches away from the wall. I know you're advised not to put ports too close to a wall, and presumably that applies to drivers to a certain extent as well.

It'll probably end up around 3 inches from the wall.

I'm leaning towards putting the driver facing the wall because that reduces the chance that I'll accidentally kick it and damage it, although it looks better if the driver and grill are in front instead of the plate amp. And since most of its spectrum comes out of the driver (especially when playing music as opposed to movies), I'm thinking the quality might be better if the ports are facing the wall.

Any thoughts?

 

[Alex2507]

So long as the port is as far away from the wall as it is wide I believe you're okay ... for the most part. I'm in the same boat with the ports on my mains and I count on the toe in to buy me a little extra breathing room. And of course there's the tried and true 'try it and see what you think' response. BTW I'm rocking a couple of PS10's in my living room.

 

[markw]

It's better to have the port facing the wall. Exactly how far, I can't say. If it sounds boomy, move it farther away from the wall.

I've got a BIC F-12 with about a 3" rear port and, for me, about 9" from the rear wall works. Any closer and it booms unmercifuly.

 

[ousooner2]

I've always heard you want at least half the port radius. Not sure whatstudies have been done on this, but you just need enough to get the air out. The waves are 15' or more so I'm not sure it's just a factor in of the amount of air moved