Good ol' SheepStar; always can count on you to give the advice that no one else would dare give! (By the way, I laughed out loud when I saw the description under your username -- very nice!)
Strongbadf, I'm starting to wonder if your first paragraph is the problem. I hear one, maybe two bad mixes and start to wonder if something's wrong with my system/setup. Maybe it IS all in my mind. I put on D.E.B.S. tonight to check it out, and even though I don't remember doing any tweaking since last time I watched it, it sounded okay, even with me sitting out of the sweet spot. I feel kinda idiotic -- like, why does it sound better now when I didn't change anything? The problem also existed with a rented copy of Pride & Prejudice, but I'm not about to rent it again just to see if the problem with that movie is still there.
I love the idea of room treatments; I just need to figure out what to place and where to place it, while keeping my living room nice to look at. It's a strangely shaped room, and I'd need some personalized help with it, I would think. My girlfriend, as wonderful as she is about HT in general, might nix the room treatments that look yucky.
mtrycrafts, distances from centre (sorry, Canadian spelling) seat reference point: Fronts 8.5 feet; Centre 9.5 feet; Surrounds 6.5 feet; Surround Back 9.0 feet; Subwoofer 9.0 feet. Do you think those surround sides are too close? I can't really move them further back without affecting the dispersion to the front and rear of the room (they're tilted downward slightly and pointed in the direction parallel to the couch -- straddles the line between the people on the couch and the people just behind it).
I have considered dipoles for those surrounds, but I listen to multi-channel hi-res music a lot, so I've wanted to leave them as monopoles. Unless there are some inexpensive speakers that can switch between the two.
It's an average sized living room, I think, although a little oddly shaped, as I mentioned. I'll try to include a diagram of the layout in the morning. Sitting on the far end of the couch brings the ear to about 4.5 feet from the surround speaker.
There is room to sit behind the main centre seats, but I haven't heard any complaints from those sitting there.
Jack, I can't afford a new receiver any time soon, Denon or no. Maybe someday.
billy, I'm usually the only one watching movies in the apartment, so I'm always in the sweet spot. It IS great, without question. Even when I watch with one other person, the sweet spot is big enough for two people. Problem is when I have a bunch of people over, I want everyone to have great sound; I'm just trying to figure how to do that.
Maybe for the next movie night, I'll nudge the surround level down a decibel or two. Sigh. I dunno. It's 1:00 am and I can't sleep cos my mind is too busy thinking about this stuff. I need some sleep. I'll try to be a little more coherent tomorrow. (Did I even manage to answer any of the questions you guys had about my setup?) Sorry for the rambling, guys.
cheers,
supervij