I found the beef.

There's a world of difference in receiver quality when it comes to bass comming out of the M22's. With the cheapest Sony receiver I heard satisfying mid and upper range, but almost nothing in the way of bass. But with the cheapest Pioneer Elite receiver, I'm hearing bass that is at least as good, if not better, than the bass that came out of the Subwoofer from my Sony Dreammachine (THIB). I have no other speakers attached to my system at this time, but I get a lot of extra bass out of the setting called "Stereo Front Stage Surround Advance Wide".