Wayne: In the Electrovoice speaker design paper (not sure where I got it) they talk about running speaker in smaller than optimum boxes, and tuning the port lower than would be for optimum response in the smaller boxes. Then, they run about 6db of boost in the range of the lower port tuning. This gives flat response to a frequency lower than could normally be obtained for a particular drive in a box of that size. They call this "step-down".Yes, it takes more power, but only on bass notes in that lower, boosted range, and in real music, this is just momentary.
Are there any drawbacks to doing this?
In a way, your Pi folded horn does the same thing, but you are boosting the low end via the horn itself, instead of with extra power of the amp
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