Do we want to absorb the energy coming from the ports ? My understanding was that it made up an important part of the overall output from the speaker.
I was about to say "I imagine most of the port output will be below 80 Hz so maybe not a big issue for HT" but then remembered that VP180 is probably one of the "most likely to be set to Large in the AVR" speakers out there.
I would answer this as "it depends." I have my wall treated, and it is great, however it isn't this massive energy trap either. In fact, outside of my front bass traps, I have probably more "effective" absorption in 2 of my wall panels in the room than the entire front wall due to the difference in materials used. My front wall is much less absorptive than it may come across. Just enough to make it not a massive reflection point causing a delay between the energy coming from the front of the speaker and the reflection off of that wall. In my situation, I am not absorbing much of the deeper frequencies which have longer wavelengths and aren't as noticeable when dealing with that front wall reflection.
So for me, it is less absorption of that ported energy.
I would think that if he is getting noticeable reflections off of the ceiling/front wall, then even some thin 1" OC703 or similar would help. I am not a huge fan of 1" acoustical insulation as it doesn't work well for the sound as a whole, but it will get those most noticeable highs sorted out.
