Your settings are way off in the calibration, and could very well be causing some of the problem. You should calibrate the system with the main volume control at "00". Doing this would bring the trims that are presently at +10 to -5. Don't worry excessively about calibrating the sub with a sound level meter. You can do it by ear to your own taste, and the Home Theater Gods won't strike you down! The sub may have it's own level control which you should use to arrive at a final volume.

Setting the sub volume is in reality a very complicated thing which really should be done with a spectrum analyzer, not a simple sound level meter. Most consumers do not have the knowledge about standing waves and other variables at low frequencies to make a calibration, especially with a meter valid. Especially considering that the LFE track in movies is synthesized anyway, setting it to taste by ear is perfectly valid. When listening to music, setting to taste by ear is also valid in the absense of advanced sound measurement equipment such as a spectrum analyzer.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited June 19, 2003).]