Receiver problem or not?

[Original-6ix]

hey everybody, a friend of mine just got the pioneer vsx 919 which we hooked up to his polk audio rm6880 speakers and the volume level really needs to be cranked in order to really hear it, for instance i have last years pioneer 1018 and usually listen to blu-rays or tv at say -50db while to get that same level on his we need to hit -30db which i find to be ridiculous. my question is do we have something setup wrong maybe or should he return it and get another to see if its just the levels the receiver hits at, thanks in advance.