Well, I tried the six vs seven inch port, (36hz, vs 34hz box tuning), and listening to a few single tracks (from Acoustic Alchemy to Rolling Stones sympathy for the devil, a couple beatles tunes, a country song (Fred Eaglesmith) and a little Joe Cocker), with sub off, no measurement equip but old ears, and I think I'll stick with the six inch port for a while. It seems to give a little more umph to the bass drum, guitar low notes. I think Jon originally tuned the smaller box version to 32-33 hz, so its worth trying a few port lengths to see what works with your room, and whether a sub will be used. They go very loud comfortably, not that I really crank them often, and sound very good. Sure you will be happy with yours
Here's a picture of mine, design(pdf) and finished(jpg)
http://www.mlwebb.com/pdf/mtm2f.pdf
I consider myself a pretty experienced woodworker (new to speakerbuilding), and as for curves, the stack laminating looks bulletproof, but an awful lot of work, absent a cnc. My vote would go for making your braces the permanent form for laminating two or three layers of bending ply, with titebond III, a narrow crown air stapler, and a paint roller for gluing the laminations. And watch how tight of radius your trying to bend, I've had my share of glue up madness, when the wood won't behave, the glue is drying, the clamps are all wrong somehow....
For curves, I like to draw them in a vector illustration program, and print them out fullsize for templates, not just for construction ease, but it is easier to get a curve that will bend naturally.
I will be interested in watching your progress.