Yes, on many receivers direct mode is just that- it disables ALL digital processing (there by making the bass management adjustments not possible). This is why most SACD/DVD-Audio/Blu-ray/HD-DVD players that have multichannel analog outs have settings in them for bass management at the player level.

You could try playing the Realtraps CD in your DVD player connected by a solitary digital cable path. This should ensure your bass management settings will be in effect.

I agree there may be harmonic distortion of the 10Hz notes but these harmonic components would be very low amplitude. The mids are crossed at 160 Hz. That's the 16th harmonic! Something else is going on.

As for evil spirits, Randy and I are separated by 2,700km and I had Father Karras exorcise my basement shortly after it was built. So no evil spirits here .

Yes, in direct mode there's no bass management, and yes, LFE + Mains can only be applied(as has been pointed out in the past)when the mains are set "Large", because otherwise they don't play the lowest bass, of course.

Maybe we built our house on an old burial ground. Mojo, have you tried running any of the test using regular CD mode to see if the drivers are moving at the lower freq's?

Also, I forgot to mention that I'm using a HTPC and using SPDIF digital out to my receiver to play the realtraps mp3 files.

ps: Ever since the first time I watched The Shining, I've been haunted.

As I described in a post yesterday, the woofers and mids don't respond when in stereo mode (tone controls unby-passed) or any of the surround modes at 10Hz. They only respond in direct mode (tone controls by-passed). I haven't done any extensive testing to see at what frequency they start to respond.

Is this what you were after, Randy?

Going from memory, I believe on the H/K receivers Direct is tied to Stereo, ie the UI makes it more clear that this is "bypass everything, analog only, no crossovers, no nothing".

Sounds like the Denon makes it less clear that Pure Direct is the antithesis of Bass Management. It's strange -- everything else in their manuals and UI is so clear and intuitive.

EDIT -- Randy, you realize this means you need to re-do some graphs, right ? Will you be able to get the M60s and EP500 back ? I'm sure their new owner would understand that we are all interested in how the 60/500 and 80/600 compare when the crossover is working properly.

I expect this will mean some significant differences in response around the crossover region (80 Hz).

Yes, I was just curious of your findings with using Stereo mode. So basically using Direct or Pure Direct is like having my mains set to "large" even though I have them on "small".

I'll have to try using Stereo mode when I get a second.

I don't think so on the H/Ks. On mine at least, I don't think there's anything that's equivalent to Direct or Pure Direct. I still have bass management in stereo; I still get to set whether it's 2.1 or 2.0.