i had a similar experience last night! i sat down last night for a little critical listening of my rig and noticed something was not right. i checked all of my connections and settings and everything seemed ok. i then realized that i was wearing a new pair of jeans! i took them off, threw em in the washer, and burned them in using the dryer. i put my jeans back on, sat down, cranked up the volume and everything came back to life! i'm pretty sure the bass is tighter now too! tonight i am going to burn in my new cable box which does not go through my stereo but figure it might help since it sits on the same rack as my audio equipment. hopefully this will expand my soundstage!