[kennyt]

Joe,

Typing in all caps is considered yelling on line and is also VERY much harder to read!

As for the ringing in your ears, it's tinnitus and is a sign of damaged hearing, which would explain the need for higher volume to fully appreciate the dynamics of films. I do not think a different receiver will change that though. One thing that might be hampering you is if you have the dynamic compression in your receiver turned on, sometimes this is called a nighttime mode or something like that, it's a long shot, but you might have it on, otherwise I think you are stuck listening to films loud. FWIW many people do like their movies pretty loud for the same reason.