In the intervening time I have also done a complete re-arrange of the shed/garage so the speakers now have a spanking new (and very elegant) location:
re-shedded by miktec101, on Flickr
Obviously, the port has opened up the bass a fair bit but also it added a bit more warmth to the mids - which is nice .... fortunately, opening the box hasn't done much damage to the overall sense of space and immediacy that I found initially such a buzz when I removed the crossover.
So all in all - very good stuff and a happy chappy. :LOL:
Note: the Harman Kardon thingummybobs aren't connected.