Nothing's ever easy. I'll experiment as much as I can with placement, and there might be a local shop that will let me borrow a receiver. It would probably be an Integra. There really isn't a great selection of home theater/audio stores in this area.

I've played a ton of material, and so far, maybe 5% has really impressed me, but most of those already impressed me on the Polk Audios. Let me just say that the M80s already show themselves as superior to the Polks in several ways, but yeah, I may have been unrealistic in my expectations. The glowing reviews make me think they HAVE to be better than what I'm hearing. I guess that's what scares me the most. Everything is dependent on everything else. What speakers will sound good with what receiver or preamp/amp combo? What if I never find the combination that gives me the performance I'm looking for? I guess that's why this is Earth and not Heaven, huh? Ha ha.

I will try what I can and report back, or I will be glued to my speakers because they sound so good.

C.V.