I see what they're doing - they want you to be able to use the front panel in a user-friendly way, and when the "R2" volume is on the screen you will tend to grab the volume knob to adjust it. And since the volume knob and the main remote's volume control are inherently linked, the main remote works this way too. One could even argue that if you are using the R2 remote to operate the second zone you are not likely to even be holding the main remote.