One thing to consider, by having the speakers right next to each other this will affect their sound, mostly in the low frequencies. For example, bass can be changed or reinforced by what is around the speaker, like walls or other speakers.
I guess what I'm saying is that the speakers won't sound the same as soon as you move the other speaker out of the way, or change the position of the speaker in relation to the walls around it, this may account for why the the bass sounds different between the two.
Also, I have never heard of Virtual mode, I use "Stereo" or "Direct" modes when listening to music.
We did swap their orientation, but they were always 1" apart. Good point Randy. Soon I will move completely away, the speaker not in use, for a better representation of how each will sound on their own. I will do this after mounting the back QS8's on their temp. stands AND running Audyssey. Though for stereo testing Audyssey is not in play (correct?).
After our 2 ch Direct testing, we wanted to hear them with the sub included (no surrounds) for music. Turning the mode selection knob, I came across "CD Virtual". This is the only mode (1909) that showed the two fronts + sub in the right side of the display as being output (left showed 2 ch input). My neighbor, Tim, a drummer, thought the base was no where near the level he likes, or that you'd here at a live performance. It was certainly not nearly as pronounced as the LFE with movies. I just assumed it produced what it was fed. I maxed the Sub level from -3.0 to +12.0. Then even changed the crossovers from 80Hz to 100Hz, thinking the subs would handle more and produce more. He still thought base was lacking. We then tried Rock and Jazz modes. He preferred Jazz to Rock modes. We had been listening at about 82-85dB continuous (-20 vol. level). After he left, I reset to 80Hz xover, -3.0 sub level. When I cranked it louder to about 95dB (≈ -13 vol.), the bass drums were more pronounced. It sounded good to me. I'll get him back to hear at 95dB. (Audyssey was OFF for all 2 and 2.1 stereo listening)
