Thanks David.
I am currently borrowing a series II Contra and have been trying it at home. Unfortunately, I've got to give it back the first of next week so I can't try it on a gig. I have played through a couple of AI combos around town and always found them to sound closer to my ideal than anything else.
I like the tone I'm getting. It has a much more solid low end than my DIY cabinet. From top to bottom, it is very tight, almost like it is heavily damped. I wonder if loading the woofer downward adds some mechanical damping.
Anyway, when using a long cable, standing at a distance from the Contra it sounds very natural to me, where my cabinet sounds like an amp.
At this point, I am planning to go the AI route, either selling my Clarus and buying a Coda or Contra combo or possibly just buying a Contra EX.