they say that ported and bandpass boxes arent as "accurate" as sealed but do they mean accurate as in the note of the bass or the timing of the note being played?
with my current sub, i went ported (my first ported setup) and i love it. the sub is probably a step up from the others i've owned, but it's just as clean as any other. my buddy's ported w7 is the same. both are clean and loud. ive never heard my current sub sealed, but it always seemed to me that the my previous subs always sounded as if they couldn't breath sealed.
build a smaller ported box (to specs) and you should be able to maintain a nice balance of sq and spl