Downward firing speaker port and domestic issues

Your dilemma reminds me of an apartment I rented in an 8-plex about 15 years ago. The landlord was cool, but he was pretty intent on filling the place with these bohemian hipster types. Guy downstairs was a drummer. Twice a week he had band practice in his apartment. Electric guitars, amps, stacks, the works. The loud, crappy indie rock was terrible.

Wasn’t such a bad deal tho… nobody could complain about me shaking the walls with EDM blaring through my Pioneer SX-D7000 and Cerwin Vega AT-15’s whenever I felt like it.

So… move in next to some hipsters?

tenant or your own space below: nix to downward firing bass drivers or ports.

nix to wanting a lot of bass when the space below is used, thus tone controls might help when those spaces are occupied, out of circuit when below is unoccupied.

isolation decoupling speakers from floor probably needed. you could start with a set of 2x2 isoblocks. many swear by townsend iso platforms.

I've installed corporate  fitness centers with occupied space below: add separate  'floating' floor on absorbent blocks, small ramp up.

In my experience, it matters not at all where or if there is a port or a passive or if a sealed box.  Bass goes everywhere, if you have it.  Your best bet is to either luck out with an elderly hearing impaired neighbor, or to get a really nice pair of LF challenged compact monitors and a sweet EL84 amp to drive them.  Black Ice F11 for example, with a pair of LS50s or similar.  Keep the volume down and enjoy.

Not sure whether a down firing port will bother your neighbor more or less than a front or rear facing port or a sealed box—probably makes little difference relative to the overall bass output of the speaker. The more air the speaker moves the more trouble your gonna have with your neighbor. Decoupling from the floor will help so tweaks of this sort are worth exploring. FWIW I have never heard a speaker with a down firing port that provided quality bass—muddy, loose, slow, lots of overhang.

Decoupling your loudspeakers from the floor will help both sound transmission and the sound of your loudspeakers, although you may still need to moderate your volume when your neighbor is home. I recommend the Auralex iso platforms from personal experience. The "Subdude" models will work fine for full range loudspeakers and are not expensive.

I hope this helps!