I ended up with a new pair of the Elacs for $244. I've been running music through them for several hours each day now for about a week. Yesterday I finally got around to pumping some volume through them, and I can't remember which CD I was playing, but I could feel the front-facing port blasts from about eight feet away. Quick, sharp and punchy little blasts. Was enough of a revelation that I was compelled to summon the wife into the office to feel - not hear (it was a bit loud for her taste.....). I made up a pair of 12 gauge, single-conductor cables for them, and I've experienced a couple "break points" where I could audibly hear them smoothing out. These speakers produce a very, VERY respectable amount of bass, and it's not a sloppy bass - and all I'm powering them with is a mid-90s Kenwood KR-A5060 receiver w/100 wpc. It's got good power for just a basic receiver and will effortlessly handle 4 ohm speakers. I was reading 86 dB SPL from eight feet away at 11 out of 30 on the volume control - a ton of headroom left over - and the Kenwood was just starting to warm up. The speakers are breaking in nicely, and so far, I'm very happy with the purchase and highly recommend them.
Thanks for the input to those who answered.