holydoc, i appreciate your feedback on my post. i'm sure you know, however, that there is more to good sound than bass. i don't want bass that is overwhelming -- i want bass that is well-controlled, believable and accurate. i have the "saving private ryan", "finding nemo", and "war of the worlds" dvds and "uh-571" on vhs tape. and yes, the bass characteristics are impressive but i don't want to kid myself. there are those who believe the best kind of bass is lots of bass, and i do not agree with that so i'm not in that camp. i belong to the "quality is better than quantity" camp. that said, i do not use a sub-woofer in my system. WHAT???!!! SACRILEGE!!! no....not really. it is not my objective to impress people with how my system can make the entire house shake. again, there's much more to good sound than bass. it's interesting how many posts i have seen in here where the most frequently discussed characteristics are bass and surround.