One point that shouldn't be overlooked is that the volume level is going up as the wattage is going down.
In other words, you'll have a louder SPL in a room with 5 speakers getting ten watts each than a single speaker getting fifty watts.
I'm not at all surprised that any receiver can't deliver it's rated power into all channels at the same time, and I'm not too concerned about it. Building a receiver to deliver stated power to each channel at the same time would probably double it's cost and not be of much practical use. I can't think of a single time in a movie where every channel was at maximum volume at the same time.
It's easy to wish that every receiver's specs read: "120 watts per channel, all 7 channels driven, at .06% distortion, 20Hz-20KHz" but the truth is, many of us couldn't afford a receiver that spec'd out like that!
