Stuart,
I did miss your point a little thanks for clarifying, your definition of a ristretto is different to mine I think that is where the confusion has come from. I come from the first 20 ml of a shot is a ristretto club, which works for me (I assume you are trying for 20 ml in 25-30 sec) I have found that getting a tighter pour doesnt work for me.
But back to your original point essentially you are trying to get a ristretto by not allowing the grounds to expand as much when extracted (smaller basket) I would still expect that this would change the extraction (for better or worse) if you have a sweet spot with the larger basket then I wouldnt think that you would get as good a shot with a smaller basket. Having said all that I am doing what I hate to read, shooting from the hip with no experimentation :
. I have a couple of spare baskets in the cupboard will have to do some measuring this weekend and experiment.

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