Front Vs Rear Ported Speakers: Which Monitors Are Actually Best? And Why?

The never-ending front Vs rear-ported speakers debate! When you’re starting as a DJ, you’re probably not going to know everything there is about the different speakers and studio monitors out there. Between the different studio and floor monitors available, as well as the different bookshelf speakers and DJ monitor speakers, it can be difficult to know all the ins and outs right off the bat.

One of the areas you likely aren’t 100% clear on is the difference between front-ported and rear-ported speakers. The front and rear ports on speakers are the different vents where the air goes out as the sound woofer moves.

Based on the type of speaker port type you get, may play a significant role in the sound quality of the speaker. Especially the bass frequencies, those lower frequencies that cause “BASS FACE!”

But which one is good and which one isn’t? Below, we’ll go over both types of ported speaker units, as well as other factors, which will help with your “ported speaker” decision.

Front Vs Rear Ported Speakers: Which is better?

Keep rear-ported monitors well away from walls for better sound. Front-ported speakers allow you to set them up closer to a wall. For bedroom DJs, front-ported speakers will often be the better choice for smaller room spaces.

What Are Speaker Ports?

With rare exceptions, most studio speakers on the market are going to have a ported design. This is particularly true with the majority of starter speaker monitors, though there are several more expensive speakers that may also use ports.

As mentioned earlier, “ports” are areas found on either the front or rear end of the speaker cabinet. When the woofer moves while playing music, there is an accompanying amount of air that is pushed around it.

The different ports act as escape valves that allow that air to move out of the cabinet and not stay trapped. This prevents sound distortion and helps maintain a smoother and more consistent sound among the different frequencies.

There are two primary places where these ports will be; either the front or the rear side. The front-end ports will be on the front of the cabinet while the rear-end ports will be on the rear side of the cabinet, so rear ported!

In some cases, you may see them on either side of the woofer itself while at other times they may be directly below the woofer.

Depending on the size of the speakers, can also affect where the ports may end up. For example, smaller speakers will generally be rear ported while larger ones will generally see the ports on the front port.

Do Ports Make a Difference to Sound?

It may seem like ports are just a bunch of holes in your speaker cabinet, but they can play a significant role in the type of sound quality you hear.

Also referred to as a bass-reflex or bass response system, ports help to smoothen out as well as amplify the lower-end sound frequencies for your sound.

This is especially true at the lower-end frequencies, where the air is most able to escape. However, as you move further from a port’s turning point, you end up with a far more distinct and sharp drop-off.

A ported speaker, more than other speakers can hit higher volume levels without worrying about sound distortion.

Still, while both ported speaker options effectively do the same thing, the placement really does make all of the difference in the world.

For smaller port sizes, there can be a higher amount of compression and distortion when at lower volumes.

This is because the velocity of air trying to escape is greater than in speakers with larger ports.

This can mean that, while larger front-ported speakers can play at a variety of sound levels and frequencies without too much issue, you’ll have to be much more careful playing with a smaller rear-ported speaker.

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Speaker Placement

While the design is very important, so too is the speaker placement in your studio.

If, as an example, you have a rear-ported speaker monitor, you’re going to want to look at areas that are around two or three feet away from the wall ideally (though six inches is acceptable as a minimum distance).

By having rear-ported speakers too close to the rear wall, you run the risk of a muddied low-end bass frequency due to the number of sound refractions and resonance.

On the other hand, front-end speakers will still suffer some sound refractions, though can be much closer to the wall or put in tighter and smaller spaces.

Front Vs Rear Ported: Performance

Ultimately, there are many advantages and disadvantages for both rear-ported monitors and front-ported speakers with both capable of sounding just as amazing as the other based on what you’re willing to do and where you’re willing to set it up in your studio space.

Not only that, but the build quality and engineering of the speaker play just as significant a role as the port placement.

Front Ported Speakers

Front-ported speakers, generally are much larger than rear-ported speakers, and will likely cost more as a result. This can make placement in smaller studios much more difficult as there may simply not be enough space to put them.

Not only that, but if there is poor rear port design, this can potentially result in interference between the air and the different ports, worsening its overall sound as well.

Still, these speaker options are much better in terms of sound quality right off the bat and can be placed fairly close to the rear wall without much issue, giving you a wide variety of locations to play with (provided you have the space).

Rear Ported Speakers

When it comes to rear-ported speakers, these suffer from much of the inverse issues as front-port speakers. Here, while generally smaller and more easily moved in a studio space, rear port units can’t be placed close to a wall without dealing with a serious dip in bass quality with a worsened frequency range.

That said because rear-ported monitors are also generally more affordable options and are smaller, rear-port speakers are much better for beginner DJs.

This is especially true when you consider that many DJs will tend to play their studio monitors closer to them rather than farther away from them.

Not only that but, if you do decide to set them closer to the wall, you can mitigate some of the issues by way of tuning the EQ levels for the low-end frequencies. This will prevent them from building up, though will also take a bit away from the bass

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Front Vs Rear Ported Speakers: The Verdict

Ultimately, while it’s certainly true that front-port speakers can retain their low-end sound frequencies much easier than a rear-ported speaker, that’s only a part of the story. Construction build, studio size, monitor placement, and DJ interests all play just as significant a role as where the ports are designed.

Whichever studio monitor you decide on, try to keep them as far from the walls and corner areas as possible. If you do need to set them there, make a point to play with the tuning options so that there isn’t as much buildup.