Regarding the receiver, it's not uncommon to have low volume (barely audible) until you crank up the volume.
My Onkyo starts at about -80 iirc, but I've got it set to power up at -40, and normally listen to TV shows at about -20. -10 is plenty loud for my little room of about 1800 cubic feet.
Don't give up on the receiver without cranking up the volume to get more power to those speakers.
At first I wasn't overly thrilled with my M22s to be honest, but it turned out that I simply hadn't given them enough juice! They came brilliantly alive when they got more power.
