Since you mentioned being new, let me bring up two points you may not be aware of.
1) Your hearing is more sensitive in ranges outside the low frequency range. Here's a diagram that shows perceived volume compared with actual volume. From 800 hz down, it's harder to hear, and at 200 hz, it's takes twice as much volume(i.e. 10db) to sound the same as 800 hz. Below that it gets worse.
SO.. don't expect to hear that bottom easily. 8x10s are loud, but they aren't subwoofers. Mids are where you can cut through. Currently you're removing the mids. Practice to find what each graphic slider sounds like, then at practice you can grab the one you feel is missing and boost it.
2) Low frequencies don't travel like high frequencies. High frequencies are directional, they go straight out of the speaker cones. The lower the frequency, the wider the dispersion, until somewhere just above 100hz it becomes omnidirectional. That means the lows emanate in every direction, like ripples in a pond.
The long and short of it is the ripples can bounce off walls and ceilings and cancel/enhance each other. Your best bet is to put your speakers next to a wall. Anyway, take a long cord and walk ten feet or more away from your cabinet and see if the bass is louder. Usually it is, because the ceiling is causing cancellations when it's 8 foot or less from the speakers.
Once I played in a tiny rehearsal room, and no one was impressed with my set-up, even though it usually kicks people in the chest. Anyhow, end of the night, the other corner of the room was covered in ceiling tile dust, which had never happened before. Cancellations made it sound weak in the rest of the room.
