Just curious if it is common for Audyssey sets the sub levels real low. After calibration both of mine were set to -12. I have since set the crossover manually to 80hz on all speakers and bumped the sub levels to -8. Sounds better to me, just wondering what others have done.

That sounds familiar. I have an older Denon 2809 and remember the same thing happening when I set the gain on my Paradigm DSP3400 at 1/2 the first time, so I lowered it to 1/4 to 1/3 gain and re-ran Audyssey which brought it closer to "0". My X4000 with the newer version of Audyssey (XT32) promted me before running the program, to set the sub "in the neighbourhood". Again, the sub ended up around 1/3 gain, this time beforehand.
I'd just lower the gain on your sub a little, then re-run Audyssey. Of course, every sub is different with respects to gain, some are more gradual then others. My Paradigm never needs to be set above 1/3 gain.

where did you have the gain/volume set on the back of the sub when you begain, that can play into the results. If set to low you might end up with -5 on the Denon. I usually start at the half way point. Also my EP600 because it has a Digital DSP processor gives me different results than my EP350s, especially for distance/delay.

Rick, is the Denon prompting you to manually set the sub to 75dB at the start of calibration? If so, the final calibration should be within a dB of the manual setting. If you have multiple subs, set each so the sum total will be 75dB. I have three subs and each is set to 70dB. The sum total is 75dB for my room.

It's been a while since I ran Audyysey, but that sounds familiar, at least with the X4000, the 2809 didn't though.

Yes, it says to set each sub to 75db. After I ran Audyysey again I bumped the subs to 80db. It still set both subs to -12 so I went in and bumped that up to -8. It sounds pretty good now, not to sure if it’s right or not.

Rick, what subs do you have?

I’ve had them quite a while now. I’ll have to check when I get home, they went out of business quite a while back.

I recall now. They are Elemental Design, made in Iowa. One is a 15” and one is a 12”.

Rick, the only thing I can think of is that Audyssey has detected very high peaks in your room (room modes) and is attempting to level them.

It's also possible, if you have never used "room EQ" before, that you are used to bass over-load. As a result, a more linear level of bass may be sounding too weak for you.

A couple of thing to try:

1. Turn sub B off and set sub A to 70dB. Turn off sub A and set sub B to 70dB. Now turn both on and see how close you are to 75dB. Repeat in small increments on each sub until you get to 75dB.

2. Let the Denon do all the bass management by turning the subs' cross-overs to max (150Hz?)

I ran Audyssey when I had the Onkyo but really don't recall the settings but I do recall bumping the subs about 3db. The change in settings I did I got from an Audyssey thread on AVS. Seems to be a pretty common thing.

When I get a bit more time I'll do some room sweeps. As I get older having the system super tweeked really isn't all that important. Hell my hearing isn't all that great now anyway LOL

Most recommendations I've seen on A.V.S. regarding Audyssey say set after running so as to let the subs Amp.s do the heavy Bass. As they're designed to.

We with Anthems A.R.C. Genesis have a thread on there. It likes to set all speakers to +12 and subs to 2 or 3. Regardless of external amplification. The sound is still Phenomenal, though most worry it's to high.

Sorry forgot to Add they set the receiver to 0 then check and set sub level. Should be 71 for dual to get 75 Db.