[albireo13]

I notice that the Songtowers seem to be rear-ported.  Can they be made fron ported?  And, if so, is there a compromise in the sound quality? 
In my living room, I want to keep the speakers as close to the walls as reasonably possible, to keep them out of traffic patterns   (5 kids, 3 cats, 2 dogs ....).

Thx,
Rob

[jtwrace]

(5 kids, 3 cats, 2 dogs ....).

 


Yes, Jim posted a picture of a front ported design not to long ago.  He even put grills on them from what I remember.  Looked great too!

See here: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=93498.0

[UltraDrew]

Rob,

I just got HT2-TLs, and like you, this was the single biggest question I had for Jim before ordering.  He recommended the front ports because, like you, I was very limited on space.  I'm paraphrasing, but he said that the rear porting could create boomy bass in my small room and that the effect of the front ports would be to greatly reduce this effect and make placement easier. 

Also, he brought up comb filtering effects (a concept I'm not 100% sure I fully understand), but basically having the port in front will change the phase relationship between certain frequencies coming from the drivers and the ports. 

My biggest question was impact on sound quality.  I think the front ports will definitely help the placement issues, and when I asked Jim about whether the comb filtering effect would hurt the sound quality, he described it as not necessarily good or bad, just different.  So... after thinking about it for awhile, I went for it.  And to my ears, they sound great!  I even think the front port looks cool!

Hope that helps.  And don't be afraid to ask Jim questions, he's super helpful. 

Here's my speakers with the front ports:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=94410.0

-Drew

[Nuance]

Another way to help alleviate the possible boominess caused by placing the speakers too close to the back wall in a small room would be to cross over to a subwoofer.  This isn't plausible for many 2-channel systems, but it would certainly allow one to use the "stock" rear-ported version up against the back wall in a small room without too much adverse effect on sound quality.  The end result would vary from room to room, set up to set up, of course.  But it is another viable option.

[sholling]

Jim built me a set of front ported Song Towers. The look is a bit different but they sound great.

[chargedmr2]

Does anyone happen to have pictures of front ported SongTowers? 

[Tone Depth]

Click on the links shown in Reply #1 and Reply #2

Does anyone happen to have pictures of front ported SongTowers?

[chargedmr2]

I did have a look at the front ported HT2-TLs and was just curious to see the ports on the narrower STs.  I suppose the cabinets are only an inch narrower, so they should look almost the same. 

I think the HT2s with the uncovered ports look very nice.

[Vulcan00]

Another way to help alleviate the possible boominess caused by placing the speakers too close to the back wall in a small room would be to cross over to a subwoofer.  This isn't plausible for many 2-channel systems, but it would certainly allow one to use the "stock" rear-ported version up against the back wall in a small room without too much adverse effect on sound quality.  The end result would vary from room to room, set up to set up, of course.  But it is another viable option.

Nuance your post brings up some questions.

Consider I wish to use two subs with Ht2-Tls in a 2ch music system. How close to the wall and corners do you think you could place the speakers without causing problems.



Or is there any realtionship between freq supplied to the HT2-TL and the amount of sound pressure through the port?


Thanks

[Nuance]

Nuance your post brings up some questions.

Consider I wish to use two subs with Ht2-Tls in a 2ch music system. How close to the wall and corners do you think you could place the speakers without causing problems.



Or is there any realtionship between freq supplied to the HT2-TL and the amount of sound pressure through the port?


Thanks

That's a very difficult question to answer, as each room's room modes are different.  It would all depend on the relationship of the speakers to the room boundaries, the location of the listening position and other variables such as subwoofer location, crossover point, etc.  For example, I've had my SongTower's in three rooms since I've owned them (not to mention other people's homes), and in each case the bass response from the speakers alone (running full range before I added the subwoofer) was different in each room, even when using the same distance from the walls.  In my current setup I am able to place them one foot from the back wall without collapsing anything sound stage related or wrecking imaging.  Now that isn't where they ended up, but you get the idea. 

If you are crossing over to dual subs (awesome), and the subwoofers are close to the speakers (in phase), depending on the room dimensions you could probably get away with a foot to 18" or so from the back wall.  The pressure coming through the port is much less than it would be if the HT2-TL's were a port reflex design, thus the flexible room placement.  To be honest, I'd be much more concerned with the speaker placement relevant to the side walls than the rear wall.  I've found the former can effect the sound much easier than the latter, especially if you're not using first reflection treatments.  In a more narrow room, get the speakers as far away from the side walls as possible, as crossing over to the subwoofers will not help with placement in this regard IMO (like they will concerning placement from the back wall).  I only have 12 feet to work with, so I started with the speakers further apart than they should have been, as I didn't want them too close together.  In short, things sounded really bad.  Well, conventional wisdom went out the window and the Cardas method became more applicable than ever; remove the boundaries from the equation the best you can, even if it doesn't "look" right. 

Okay, I just rambled on and on - sorry about that.  What are your dimensions, and could you possibly attach a picture (or two or three) of the room, including speaker and subwoofers in their current (or proposed) locations?