Woofers firing at an inside wall Why?

I own a pair of klipsch La Scalas. The woofer is a 15 inch diameter alnico driver.
The base cabinet is a sealed wooden triangulate affair. It is sealed except for two slots on both sides of the angled wooden structure.
I have been told that the woofer faces forward right into the point of that triangle. I have never seen it.
The speaker is equisitely sensitive and can be used with true flea power. The alnico magnet on the compression horn squawker is enormous,. Even if using a very low watt amp you can reach ear splitting volumes in the midrange.
Dspite the size of the woofer the bass is rather subdued and outshouted by the big horn. If you apply more power you can get the woofer moving and a better tonal balance is achieved. I use a small McIntosh power amp. With even bigger amps the bass improves even more.
The question is what advantage did the late P.W. Klipsch see in having the woofer work against a barrier. Does this folded horn loaded design enhance bass it seems to just dampen it. Wouldn't the bass be more prounced if the woofer just faced the listener.
The K-horn uses the same drivers and I am told the woofer once again faces the front which is a solid wood (birch plywood) board.