Dean, I'm not familiar with Master and Commander(my music/movie ratio would be something like 99 to 1), so specifying that particular scene doesn't really clarify the problem for me. It's said that even seemingly very wild scenes very rarely have all the channels going near full-blast at the same time. Be that as it may, one of the receivers that actually does base its rating on an "all channels driven" measurement(e.g. HK, NAD)can be counted on to actually deliver the rated power to all seven channels simultaneously for at least five continuous minutes, because that's the test it had to pass to comply with the FTC regs.
Even some receivers that use the more typical 2-channels driven rating come rather close to that number even on an all channel basis when tested by labs such as Sound&Vision or Home Theater Magazine. Denon is one of those that usually does come close, so besides being able to count on the 110 watt rating being met, all channels might be something on the order of 90 watts.
