papajim- glad you finally got you some Axioms..
while set-up can be confusing, its certanly not anything you would want to waste money with paying someone to do. there are many denon owners on here, so i am sure you will find someone that can take you thru the process fairly painlessly. it seems super hard at first, but once you get a concept of what you are trying to do, it all just starts to fall into place.
as far as no sound going to the rears.. you might just have a setting on the receiver a certian way that doesnt send sound to the rears.. try and set to an "ALL CHANNEL" mode, or one of the DSP modes. if you have speakers wires connected properly, it should be getting powers to the rears.
and read the manual. i have heard the denon manual can be a little complicated, but its has lots of usefull info, so dive into it, and make it make sense.
good luck, and i hope some denon people get on here to help you trouble shoot the problems's.
bigjohn
