Having a bit of time today to play (given our awful weather), I did as you suggested - removed the cap and series R, replaced w/8 ohm Lpad. Only listened a few minutes so far, but sounds very nicely balanced (at about 50% on the pad). Part of my rationale on adding the cap in the first place was to limit cone movement on low passages, I have always found that isn't great for sonics on the Fostex speakers, so we will see about that. For now, sounds good without it.