Nice go! Good to hear you got some good results with the snare at least.
Now that you've gone this far with the 14x14 and determined it sounds small, perhaps that drum is enough of an experiment to try a port...
QUESTION FOR EVERYONE: anyone here had good results reinforcing the lower or fundamental frequencies of their drum with one or more ports?
Micheal, don't cut a hole in your drum until you're sure you want to. But considering that the open space between 2 'stacked' drums can help tone on each, it might be something to consider especially with your 2 drums are 'sealed' together.
I kinda gave up on using my cut-down 10x14 single headed tom as a micromini kick because it too was small and boxy sounding. I did decide tho to set up a 16x16 maple Premier drum to work either vertically or horizontally, in both cases intended for sitdown playing. You're already doing this with your micro kit, so perhaps the same 16x16 would work for you vertically as well.
A bunch of people here have concocted expresso (vertical) type kits using a 16x16 as big drum. This has worked especially well for me with a side (10 or 13-inch) snare if you're thinking of going that way anyway.
I don't know about Au availability or cost, but check out these snare drums:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=443576
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=445235
I use a maple version of the Pacific side drum with my cocktail kit and love it. Not familiar with the ddrum snare but it would be an inexpensive entry.