Questions about banner images

First off, thanks for the theme. It's very nice...and the rich configuration options are *very* much appreciated.

My questions:

1) How can I adjust the height of the top-most black bar (where the primary links are located)? It's a little tall. Is it as simple as swapping out the repeating 3D background image or must I do something else?

2) I want a banner at the top of my page...and I like the way it looks when I set my wide image as the masthead background, but:

- The height doesn't work. I have tried adjusting the settings (including fluid height), but I cannot get the masthead section to be as tall as my image (120 pixels).

- The masthead section only seems to appear when I have selected an option to display text in that space. I just want the image, which has the name of my site embedded in it (anti-aliased and semi-transparent). Is there someway to get the masthead to appear even if site name, mission, etc. are not enabled?

Thanks again,
DD