Ran the DR70-D yesterday afternoon. 290 seat theatre - 7 piece band, country music.
I was about 30 feet from the stage, running the Audix M1280s. Ran 3/4 mic in, saved as a stereo wav file. Channel pan at max (12)
Regarding the low levels - I ran on "low" mic input setting - and I had the levels cranked all the way up.
Never saw the peak light. I had decent levels - but I didn't like having to run max knob.
Second set, I switched to "High" and ran levels about 10 o'clock - a few peaks lights on some bigger drum hits.
That seemed like a more "normal" situation.
So - I could see how levels might seem low, depending on what you are recording.
The "Low" mic input might be reserved for the loudest of the loud - or when you are very close.
Ate up my batteries - I changed at intermission. Looked like I was down to about 1 bar after an hour or so.