Wayne Parham Messages: 18787 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
The position of the port in a Helmholtz resonator does not matter. However, in a transmission line it does because its behavior is wavelength related. A bass-reflex speaker is one that uses Helmholtz resonance as the tuning method, but if the cabinet is large enough then standing waves can be an issue. This can be bad, but it can also be used to advantage. You just have to check it and see. I suggest using Martin King's ported box cabinet spreadsheet on any cabinet that is large than a few cubic feet, or one that is tall and thin. If one or more cabinet dimensions is long enough that standing waves might develop in the woofer passband, analysis should be done to ensure no unusual or unexpected response peaks or dips develop.