That Speaker-Type is called a "Passive Radiator". They usually have a mass on the end of the cone.. which is tuned in a certain way to get the best action.
Passive Radiators can make some very nice low end, without distortion that usually comes from cranking bass up on smaller speakers.
The air causes the mass in the radiator, to move at a certain low end frequency. Its very similar to a higher-end 'musical subwoofer'. (Rather than a mere fake boomy nightmare)
Im not a big fan of bass ports. A bass-port, is a tuned hole... where air can go in and out of the speaker. The hole diameter and port shape.. create a fake bass sound. Its artificial and boomy. Not accurate to the real sound at all. A lot of Speaker MFG. started using this, because these speakers sound louder, with less power. Its also cheaper and easier.. thus more profit. Sucks.
Some of the best speakers, are Air-tight. They use the air inside the speaker, as a sort of spring. "Acoustic Suspension"
If you press gently on the cone.. you will feel that its very hard to move it. A lot of resistance force. These speakers require more power.. and often are not the loudest speakers, but they extremely accurate. They sound so much better than the Fake-Bass boomers.. that you dont even care that they are not as loud. Usually the older vintage stuff, is the best... stuff from the 70s. In almost all cases.. You will know if its a speaker worth buying.. if you have to grunt a little to move it. The older higher quality speakers are most often very heavy. The thicker wood reduces distortions and leakage. They also often have massive high power, high quality, crossover networks inside. The speakers also having very heavy magnets. Im fairly certain that One of my bookshelf EPI 8" 2ways ..weights more than both my Technics 12" 3-ways combined.
I do have to say however, that I was kind of impressed with the first Passive Radiator set Id heard.. which was from a Phillips Woox boom-box playing in Walmart many moons ago. Unlike most of those 'port-only' boxes.. the Phillips version was played full blast, and there was zero distortion from the bass. It was also very low in the extension, and not overly boomy sounding.
Their woox system is 'slightly' different than a typical passive radiator.. as it has two back to back radiators separated with an air chamber of sorts.. (not sealed however) and each of radiators has 2 or 3 expansion rings... so it can expand and contract a lot further than a typical speaker.
You can get some nice sound out of small drivers.. but, I dont think I could go any less than 6" speakers... or your are losing a lot of non-sub bass response.. and dialing up the power, is probably going to distort them.
EPI / Genesis make some awesome 6 to 8" 2way systems. Their inverted tweeter will blow you out of the water.. with its amazing clarity and 3d soundstage. The only thing Id heard that came close to that kind of awesome vivid 3d soundstage.. was a Radioshack Dipole Ribbon Tweeter. However, because the ribbon was a full 360 degrees.. it often sounded and felt a little too odd at times. Too 'non directional' for its own good. It also didnt have the Lush midrange capability that the Epi's have either.
A guy whom used to work for EPI, still makes and sells brand new components. However, you could probably get a full speaker set for cheaper on craiglist, or Ebay.
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