U guys have come highly recommended

cool.

thanks a lot stevdart.

i guess i am ready to go on  with the build. 

thanks again

kingpin(mike)

I had a virtual reality thought later on this.  The port opening will extend to the outer face of the front, so the 1" front baffle will count for 1" of the 13.31" port length.  That means the measurements in the quote above should be tweaked to account for that, taking the 13.31 down to 12.31 length.  Very slight adjustment in overall volume but a critical adjustment in actual port volume.  Just be sure to measure the inside port size when you are building.  Good luck.

point taken

kingpin

Avolon, a couple of things:  "...but when manipulating the port size, I thought it was only important to maintain the volume..."  Depends on what you are doing.  In the case of this thread, the port was being changed from round to slotted.  If the length remains the same, the area of the circle only has to be calculated and a rectangle formed instead.  But in the case of changing port diameter, and increase also demands a longer port length.  Volume, then, is not maintained... it increases.  "manipulation" can be different things.

In this thread, the ports are aligned along the common wall where support is not needed.  The space across the front is not wide enough to allow a port closer to the driver.

And for bracing, the most critical brace is from front to back, centered (as close as possible) on the enclosure chamber.  Next critical place is center top to bottom.  A slotted port used in place of a brace would not give you the front-to-back support because of the slot opening on the inside.