Faking an extended sealed box response with a low-tuned damped vent

[IG81]

Resistive vented cabinets are always a very mixed bag as well. If the box is too small then you can reduce the bass hump, but you are then tossing out any benefits in reduced excursion. In the end the difference between that and fully sealed is minimal.

I don't see anything inherently wrong with an overdamped vented alignment that approaches a sealed box in response. You should be able to get to some blend of sealed and vented attributes.

I've toyed with aperiodic on a few occasions. It does what it's supposed to, but IMO, it's no more than a way to make for better - not deeper, shallower in fact - bass in a too-small enclosure. I also briefly had a pair of Dynaco A25, they didn't stay long, but it was not because they are aperiodic, they just sounded "dated" and boring to me. 🙂

QSS and my scheme seem like they'd have a few advantages over purely sealed, for a similar enclosure size, but there will be trade-offs naturally.