Thanks for the info. That was the perfect thread for my question, and gave me more reason to suspect my receiver.

Good advice on auditioning; I do in fact have access to a Sony STRDE985 that should at least give me a better picture than the JVC 668. I've thought of also 'auditioning' the Paradigm at home. In the dealer comparison, it blew away the NHT sub I also listened to. The multiple explosions and musical bass at the beginning of T2 were all individually rendered, while the NHT very obviously blended them all practically into one continuous boom.

[This message has been edited by derekj4 (edited September 19, 2002).]