Sorry if I came off defensive. You're right--you did just give advice, and it was good advice, too. I looked again at the chart on tilt in the manual and recalculated distance/listening height/tilt. BINGO! I sit pretty far away from my speakers--12 ft--so I had the tilt initally too high, then when I went flat that wasn't right either. It turns out I needed something in the middle (3/4" distance between the top and the bottom of the speaker). Now the details are back, the accuracy is balanced across the frequencies--YAY, here's what I've been looking for! I remember speaking to Richard Vandersteen on the phone once, and he said one rule overrides all the others: if your ears say it sounds right, it's right. The manual also mentions something about not overanalyzing set up (something I'm definately guilty of)--when it's right, you'll know. Anyway, thanks to you all for you help and feedback--and patience--in this somewhat misguided thread. Danny