Wayne Parham Messages: 18756 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
They absolutely do contribute to loading the cones, and I would expect that one of the things they do is to increase acoustic loading at lower frequencies. The thing is it's hard to know without measuring or at least modeling. I'd model this device in Hornresp, or at least half of it (one side).
My intuition is the curved sections will act partly as front chamber and partly as part of the flare. They'll increase the overall length, which will help load at lower frequencies. If the overall area continually increases, they'll act more like "flare" and less like "front chamber." But if the area decreases, they'll act more like front chamber and less like flare. And in either case, the radius will affect the HF limit and probably cause some rolloff. You'll also have the combination of the two sound sources affecting HF performamce too.
But measurements trump intuition any day. You'll only really know what this device does after you've measured it.