Johnk, the problem was that I was having MORE bass in direct mode, which i know was wrong because direct mode does not use the subwoofer like you said. I knew something was wrong because I should have had better bass in stereo mode (with the sub active).
I mentioned what had caused the problem but it has likely got burried in all of these posts.
Basically my sub was set to -10db for 2 channel mode and it should have been at -2db. As a result, the frequencies below 60hz were being rolled off to the sub which was not properly calibrated for 2 channel mode. It was calibrated correctly for surround mode, so that is why I thought everything sounded good for movies.
Now everything sounds great with mains set to small with a 60 hz Xover to the sub.
I ran the real traps test tones the other day and noticed a pretty good dip at 60hz. I bet that is much better now that I have the sub calibrated correctly for 2channel mode.
The problem is that the only way to adjust channel levels in 2channel mode is by clicking in the middle button on the remote while listening to a 2 channel source. All of the 2 channel listening I have done lately was through the network interface, and for some reason the center button is changed to a pause button in network mode so there is no way to check/adjust channel levels while listening to networked audio.
I had to put a cd into my DVD player and adjust is from there.
