I think a lot of car sub bass heads think that subs in a home theater environment is the same as in a small enclosed car/truck.

Feeling the sub operating has its place and listening to music is not one of those times. Watching a movie is the most likely spot I would enjoy the vibs

I'm also liking the idea of two 500s at the front while the 800 is at the back... but I'm going to hold off on that to see if I can get the 800 working properly.

sirquack, I'm not a car bass head. I do like bass though, as i said in a previous post, my small little jvc big box home theater bass was giving more thump than the 800. I'm telling you, I think I just did something wrong with the settings, because there was no rattling of the windows, no big thumping. There was no wow factor whatsoever. Is that normal? Even my friends were saying the same thing - i must have the settings wrong. One of them thought the only other issue could be a faulty driver - which i'm praying to god it's not.

I'm thinking there is a problem with the sub. Best way to tell? Hook up a CD player directly to the EP800 and see if that produces significant amounts of bass (turn the volume down on the sub, first...)

Feeling a bridge fall is great, but a stand-up bass can be felt. A bass guitar can be felt. A kick drum can be felt. All of these add a dramatic tactile aspect to music that is closer to live - not manufactured. Subs absolutely play a role in music. And "car bass heads" covers a wide swath of audiophiles that don't limit their musical enjoyment to their home as well as cheap systems designed to generate SPL. I'm sure most people would think putting thousands of dollars in to "boom" in a typical residential room would be more offensive than the occasional "car bass head" with his $150 sub. Cars just don't contain the bass much, no matter if you are listening to accurate bass or looking to rattle the nearest driver's mirrors. Bass-head or not, I think for the price of an ep800 no one should be confused if it is working or not. Heck, that's true of a $500 sub.

I also think there might be something wrong with the sub, even if some of your settings are a little off, it should still give you something.

I would try resetting the Denon to defaults maybe. I know you said you tried cranking up the volume on the sub, but what levels do you have it turned on the receiver? Are you absolutely sure your using the "preouts" for the sub channel?

A cpu reset would be a great idea. Someone else had a problem similar to this a while back and it went away as soon as they flashed the cpu. Had some setting deep in the guts that was messing up the sound.

What would be a good CD / DVD / SACD / Bluray to really test the EP-800?

Kung Fu Panda has some bass, Blue Man Group DVD has bass galore, I've heard Master and Commander has very detiled low bass (need to try the BR). Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms CD, Ride Across the River. Just some random ideas. Ray Brown Trio has fantastic standup bass recorded very well on CD. Eminem - pick a CD - will rattle your shingles, same with Prodogy. Motley Crue's latest has great bass guitar notes if that is your speed.