You can connect the Oppo directly, you should be able to do the same test there. Only thing you need is the subwoofer. My living room is about 20X20 with another 10x6 hallway leading to the door (about an 8' ceiling). With the EP500, I could *NOT* watch hulk at full volume. It literally would have knocked down some pictures on the wall. So something is quite wrong. Make sure you tell Oppo that you have small speakers and that sub is active.
BTW, out of curiosity, are you setting the SACD preference to DSD or PCM?
