Wayne,
You are probably correct in that the "time/phase" alignment may not be what we are physically aligning for. Yes we are decreasing the destructive componenets. But for me, the terminology will always be a "hit and miss" item as I am a "backyard-mechanic". I will never be able to hold up against you engineers. You are held to higher standards.But anyways, In my experiments I have found that you can be slightly off on alignment and sometimes get a response that will counter other flaws such as room reflections/etc in the environment. But I have always found it a compromise of one sort or another. Ask BillE how many times we discussed horn placement and crossover freq, every time I think I can nail it down using textbook ideas, I still have to do slight tweaking using my ears for the final reference.
Anyways, just sitting here at work and rambling on. Just thought this might bring up more observations on sound reproduction and such!
Thanks for listening Wayne!!!!
Crazy Ron