Help...my system sounds like crap

What type of calibration have you done on it?  What specifically don't you like?  Did you audition the speakers before buying them?

I read Quintet surround speakers, but no mention of a subwoofer.  Do you have one?  If not, you're not going to be able to reproduce low frequency sounds well... I'm guessing those quintet satellites roll off anything under about 80 Hz pretty significantly.  I personally think the Klipsch quintets are excellent little speakers (I have a pair installed as surrounds in one of my rooms) - but they must be augmented with a subwoofer for your system to reproduce full-range sound.

I'm not sure about the Denon, but the auto calibration on my Pioneer is spot on.  After it is complete, I go into the menu and manually change all of my speakers from large to small.  That might be something you need to do.

-Robert

I would rerun your calibration and make sure it is dead quite when you run it.  It is my understanding that noise can affect the calibration if it picks up enough background noise.  I have heard a number of Denon recievers and IMHO they sound great.  Now one of the things that could affect your sound is your room.  Does it sound bad at low volume and when it is loud or is it only when you turn it up?  This could be that when you auditioned the speakers they where not in a large room.  And now you have them in a large 20 X 20 room and if the speakers are the ones I think they are.  In a big room small speakers tend to sound stressed anyway when trying to force them to fill a large room with sound and high volumes.  Even though you have a 12" subwoofer the speakers could be to small for the room to create the SPL level you are looking for.  I would first run the calibration on your receiver and see if that helps.  The receiver should have around 110 watts X 7 so I would look at your speakers being the cause if the calibration does not help.  I have heard a Denon receiver at CES that was driving a 4 ohm load in a 7.1 config at loud volumes and it not only sounded great but didn't run hot ether.  The Pioneer and especially the Pioneer Elites do sound good but I honestly feel the Audyssey used with Denon, Marantz, Onkyo ect does a better job.  

I would also check your crossover setting on your subwoofer and also check the volume level as well.  Hopefully it is something simple and does not require spending money.  But the thing is that really small speakers generally do not do well in large rooms, this is one of the lies that Bose trys to tell people all the time.  Oh you do not need large speakers these Chihuhua size speakers can do the same exact job that the bigger ones can do!    .  To get that SPL and to get that impact at louder volumes in a large room you have to move air!  That is why small speakers and small subwoofers do not work well in large rooms!  Now granted you can have speakers to big for a room but usually that is not the case.  Ooooops I think these might be a little to big for my room, ROFL!   

I'm not happy with the volume of my surround speakers. I tried to calibrate them but my system won't let me unless I am running the sound to the tv...weird.