to answer everyone's questions....

a) i don't fault the designer. i already owned the speakers before
building this studio. they came along for a few hundred so i grabbed
them. i told him i was thinking about changing and he said that i
would like them much better once they were soffit mounted.
b) the designer designed MDF speaker boxes much larger than the 809's.
then i did some internal carpentry inside the MDF and put a bunch of
705 in there, mounted the 809's in their original inside of my
carpentry and did the sheetrock flush to the edge of the 809 cabinets.
i can cut out the sheet rock and redo the framing inside the MDF boxes.
but that is a lot of labor and requires moving the console. wondering
if there's an easier short term solution.

c) the speakers have some small tears at the radiused section at the
end of the voice coil where it connects to the gasket. the tapered
part of the coil is intact.

d) this is the only pair of 809's i've ever heard. they sound sort of
ns10ish to me. very forward, but slightly cloudy top and fairly rolled
off bottom. somewhat fatiguing to listen to.
thanks for the input.
kurt