Hi efficient speaker, bass problems

Duke, we have all read that bass is omni-directional, and yet very often it's very easy hear where the sub-woofer is (perhaps it's because the overtones appear to come elsewhere?). Despite the theories, some of us clearly prefer the sound of sealed boxes over ported ones. As the old cliche' goes; "the proof of the pudding is in the eating".

Stereophile recently claimed they had tested 750 speakers and the average sensitivity was 86dB . John Atkinson didn't come right out and say it, but seemed to prefer sealed box designs .
The only sub Iv'e heard that didn't give away it's position was a very large REL .
All this ( proof is the pudding ) talk is making me hungry .

Duke,

Bass localization is detectable indoors, get the math wrong and you will know, phase is absolutely critical.

regards,

Duke, "Come to think of it, for many years the most natural-sounding bass I'd ever heard was from an IMF transmission line."

So many folks who have been fortunate enough to be around Bud Fried's various designs echo the same thing. The corollary is that so few say it about most other true TL designs. Bud was intelligent/courageous/confident enough in himself to do things differently than everyone else without giving it a second thought; TL implementation being a prime example.

The last true example of the speaker Duke referenced was the Fried Studio V. So often, I say to myself exactly what Duke said. Though I've been around countless loudspeakers that produce much better bass on paper, to me, no speaker (OK, maybe his own personal O subwoofers, which I happen to have in my home) has ever made bass that was more perfect (actually, it's not even close) in terms of sounding like actual music. I admit that it's something that haunts one forever. Here's hoping one day I find a pair...

Weseixas, I would think it would be much easier to get correct phase with a sealed box than with a port.