I have a Yamaha HTR-6060 receiver. Supposedly, based on reviews it is a great receiver but I am not all that impressed. I had really cheap radio shack speakers that were 2 way rms 60W peak 120W for all 5 speakers and an athena sub. I thought it sounded like crap so I got some new speakers, I am on a budget so I chose Sony speakers. I have the Sony SS-MF550H for my front speakers, the Sony SS-MF350H for my surrounds, the Sony SS-MF150H for my surround back, and the SS-CN550H for my center channel. I realize these speakers are not the best and I paid a total of about $300 for all of them but I expected more than what I got. Could it be the receiver, I set it up with the YPAO mic and I have to listen at -15dB for it to even sound okay. This is too loud and the surround back speakers don't ever receive any action. Should I switch them to the precense speakers in the front? How can I make the started system sound better, am I forgetting an important thing? Thank you for help.
Not much you can do but play with the settings until it sounds right to you.
As far as the rear surrounds are concerned, they are all dependent upon your source material and how the original media is recorded.
You have to understand that the surround speakers are more for ambient sounds and not active at all times when the material is not present.
It also depends on how the surround settings are set up. For movies, you won't get much until it is called for. For music, you have to give it a different setting like DTS Neo 6 or something to that effect for you to be able to hear material in the surround. A lot of music CDs are not encoded for surround unless you get into the SACD or DVD audio media.