I run into this one every day at work. Our line of products is not what one might consider 'high-end' but we have some respectable product for the money. At any rate, it's near to impossible to explain to Joe-Schmoe how come a Sony reciever will be rated at 110 watts by 6 channels and the Yamaha will be only 75 by 6 and yet the Yamaha can deliver more usable power to the speakers. They can always hear the difference, however, when I play the two side by side at the same spl across the same set of speakers. It is beyond annoying, and the car audio market has lost its head in this problem. I consistenly see new amplifiers for car audio that claim 1200watts of power, but when you dissect the actual included performance numbers they're 150watts RMS at 4 ohms. It gets rather tiresome to sift these pathetic marketing numbers from reality. The key is as it always has been. When you listen to the receiver you'll be able to tell (or if you can't tell, then you'll have to base your decision on some other criterion, like features or price).