Regarding the wiring, as others have mentioned, the Neutrik Speakon avenue is great and the method I'd opt for too. They're truly wonderful. And for those unfamiliar, their brethren, ... the Power-Con twist-lock connectors, are equally as sweet. My LCRs have them and they really are nice (daisy chain-able too) and "pro" like. Like many of us here, I've lived in the performance audio world and anytime one can utilize a locking connector it's typically a good thing.
You can either get multi-gang stainless plates, rough them in with gang-able switch boxes, or merely seven wide signle connectors. I'd likely go for four, double Neutrik plates, and have one un-used, or like I said, seven wide single plates. If you search "multi-gang Neutrik Speakon" you'll encounter anything you want. If you're so inclined, you can order a custom, seven-wide plate, and have perhaps a bit cleaner of an install.
As far as your question about the amount of bass generated, there are many Open-Baffle devotees that really get great broadband sound from both speakers and subs. It's somewht akin to an acoustic short circuit, so EQ is often needed to compensate but great results are there to be had. I've not experimented myself, but there's a lot out there to read about it.
Here's some quotes from Linkwitz on the subject;
"at 120 Hz, one 12" driver in the open baffle cabinet is equivalent to the same 12" driver in a closed box. At 30 Hz, though, the open baffle SPL has dropped to 1/4, i.e. it would take four 12" drivers to maintain the same SPL as the single 12" driver in a box, when all of them are driven to the same excursion."
"At 30 Hz the two woofer cabinets of the PHOENIX are equivalent to a single 12" in a closed box, assuming that the box speaker is flat to 13 Hz (-3 dB). Above this frequency, of course, the two open baffles generate considerably more SPL than the single 12" driver in a box."
"At 60 Hz the dipoles would be equivalent to two of those 12" box woofers and at 120 Hz equivalent to four in terms of maximum SPL. You can add 6 dB to this capability by doubling the dipole woofers and stacking them on top of each other for a height of 28", but this might negatively affect the WAF. The primary benefit of the stacked woofer arrangement would be reduced non-linear distortion when listening at the same SPL as before."
"A lot of air is shuffled back and forth between the two sides of the open cabinet. This sets up a strong sound velocity field but our ears only respond to sound pressure and we do not hear it. This is wasteful of cone excursion but the price to pay for natural bass reproduction. You can see why the open baffle woofer will never be a popular commercial item, when a majority of consumers loves excessive bass, and when a dipole woofer will just not get the room going in all its resonant modes for additional boom."
Have fun
Very strange feeling indeed, never experienced that before. And this still was not with the wall sealed and it was not even near stressing the subs.
