Acually, I agree with you, I have 4 machined metal ports on the top of my box for my 12's which looks really nice, but It sounds louder with the big ugly board on top unfortunatly. I really would rather not have the board. Now that I think back, I have a box with 2 10's that have insulation in the box. I was considering adding some insulation in the box of my 12's. Would that possibly be able to substitute the boards?