You might have a dynamics compression feature turned on. On my Yamaha, there is a “night time” (or something close to that) switch which, when enabled, compresses the dynamic range so you can hear more of the movie at low listening levels. If by chance you have a similar switch turned on, then that could account for the sound not blowing you away.
I have quite a few sound fields to choose from also. I use one that makes the listening space seem larger, mostly "hall" I think, but I have front “presence” channels hooked up too, which helps with the spacial imaging. A lot of people don't care for the DSP soundfields, but you should try them out and see what you like.
