youre right my tv happens to be a 1989 panasonic 27 incher but it is also true that my dvds look better

J.R.
A couple of things to check:
1. How long are your rear speaker wires? What Gauge wire? You might be losing signal due to wire resistance.
2. My older Sony receiver was weak in the rear too. However, it has a "rear speaker gain up" setting that you get by holding a certain button for several seconds when powering on the unit. This added 15db as I recall. Anyways, it helped A LOT. Check your receiver manual.

J.R.

One of the things that I do for my friends is set their A/V systems up. The things that I find the most are:

1. The rear speaker settings are too high. They say "I couldn't hear them.". I set them using a sound level meter and tell them to resist the urge to change it. It is supposed to be that way.

2. The color is set way too high. This creates stunning colors, but they are not realistic and are typically over saturated. Not good for the life of the guns either.

3. Contrast and brightness set way too high. This can shorten tube life and rob you of the true picture that was intended to be seen. This is where you set the background black level. This is a very important setting. The Video Essentials DVD or the other calibration DVD will be needed to set this. I don't know that it can be set without it.

4. Sharpness way too high. At first the picture appears too soft when adjusted properly but once you get over the change from higher sharpness you will actually see more detail than when the sharpness was turned up.

Story Time:
When we bought our Mitsubishi 60" TV my wife loved the 'factory settings' picture. This picture is for selling TVs, not watching them. The color, contrast, brightness, and sharpness were all too high. When I had the TV calibrated, she hated it. She said the colors were dull and lifeless, the picture was too dark and soft. After a couple of days I told her that I had set it back the way it was before. I hadn't. She became used to it. Later my aunt bought the Mitsubishi 60" and it was set at the 'Factory settings'. My wife and I visited her and when we left, my wife told me that her picture was horible. Too bright, too much constrast, color up too high and so forth. The moral of the story is that a properly calibrated set looks different than the 'factory setting' set. Most people have not seen a properly calibrated set and it takes some getting used to. Take the time to get used to it. You will enjoy your system more. Same goes with the audio side of A/V.

You may be able to rent the Video Essentials DVD. I rented it before I bought it. I have never used the other calibration DVD so I can't speak for it. A sound level meter can be purchased at Radio Shack. It is a great birthday or Christmas gift as is the calibration DVD. These are all I need to keep my system tuned up.

Enjoy

JohnB, Greg, et.al.,
Thanks for the info. My Sony receiver does have a rear speaker gain setup where I can boost the dB +10. As you note, I then hear more of the rear speakers. After reading this posting, and everyone's comments, I realized my Polk speakers were hooked up correctly and that's how they're supposed to sound in certain modes. The speaker wire run to the rear speakers is about 25 feet, using 14 or 16 gauge wire (I forget which). Costco has the Video Essentials DVD so I will get that - as soon as I get a DVD player! I'm certain my Sony TV's settings are also out of calibration so I'll take care of that to.
I do like to set up my receiver so I get music out of the four speakers. As mentioned above, this may not be how the music was intended to be listened to but I like to hear the music surround the family room - instead of just from the front speakers which are mounted at one end of this large room (14'x 26).
Thanks for the info.
J.R.