Sealed vs Vented enclosures

While admittedly limited to mostly "full range" speakers in the below $5K range, my experience is that sealed enclosures provide tighter, more natural bass than their reflex or ported counterparts. Unless bass is very tight and *right there* it quickly appears muddy to me. This is due to a loss of accuity in my lower frequency hearing from over exposure to industrial noise. The only speakers that seem to get it right are ones with sealed enclosures.

That response is quite correct (well, very typical of that design), and there is a simple physics explanation for it all. I will try and keep this short and sweet. Sealed (Acoustically Suspended) speakers are far more accurate, and overall, just much better designs. The downside is that they are more expensive and less efficient, ie. you need much more amplification to control a more difficult, more reactive speaker load. All else equal between the two designs, you will find that ported (vented) enclosures will provide looser, muddier, albeit louder bass. Hence, the cost of both the sealed enclosure speakers, and the associated electronic equip to run them, will go up astronomically if you want to run a high quality sealed system through the same frequency range and SPL (sound pressure level). Hope that makes sense.

..... Vandersteens "don't need no 'stinkin' enclosures". Ummmm Goooood!

While not disagreeing with the above, I find that vented can sound good in the bass, but it depends on the trade-offs made by the designer. But more importantly for me, I find mid-priced vented speakers usually breathe (pardon the pun) better in the midrange - ie. voices and instruments sound less strained.

Like all else in this hobby, everybody has their favorite, and wonders why anyone else would like something different than their personal ideal. You'll HAVE to make up your own mind through experience, and there are no shortcuts to experience.