Quote:
I might not be as quick to dismiss the impact of the port in a constrained space.


Well, that's because you've got a more discriminating ear than most (something which can probably be said about most of the peeps on a speaker chat board).

I'm just saying that putting the speaker in the cabinet, while not optimal, isn't going to totally destroy the way the speaker sounds - it will just "color" it in certain ways that some might not be quite as prone to noticing.