I would think so, based on the Hot Rod tests, open long tube headers gave the best numbers, even though the tests were on a V8, open headers are still open headers. Its just not practical or legal to run on the street like that, not to mention what that will do to your hearing over time. But it's up to you.
I've noticed that alot of the rat rods run short tubes, one per port. I haven't heard one of these "get on it", but idling around the fairgrounds they are increadably quite. Of course, its not leagal to do that setup either, but...
I hear what your saying about the Smithy's, but the ones on my friends '52 sounded good to me. Another friend put some on an Edsel, and you couldn't tell it was even running. I've heard others say they don't like the Smithy's either. Go figure...
Alot of people running the Brockman Mellowtones swear by them as being the best.
