For speakers with 93dB/w/m sensitivity, 110 watts gets you ~113dB@1m. 185 watts gets you ~115dB. You're putting entirely too much stock in the numbers,
@Manvillerc ! Stop it, right now!
Those numbers say nothing about the timbre of the speakers -- whether the midrange is subdued, whether the highs are harsh, whether the overall presentation is muddy, whether the off-axis response is muffled. They only predict max output at a reasonable rate of distortion (that is, a mismatch between signal received and signal amplified).
Now, I know your receiver has several virtual surround modes to play with -- Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS:Neo-X, and other variations. In my experience (as well as that of many of the other forum members and audiophiles beyond), all those virtual surround modes make the sound nebulous, with an ambiguous sound stage. Turning off virtual surround will make your stuff sound better. To do this, hit the Pure button on your remote repeatedly to cycle through Direct -> Pure Direct -> Auto, and stay on Auto. You might have to do this with each of your sources: switch to Auto while you're watching cable, switch to Auto while watching a Blu-Ray, switch to Auto while listening to Internet radio, and so on. With the Auto surround mode enabled, stereo signal gets played back as 2.1, while native 5.1 AC3 or DTS or similar signal plays according to the programming, just the way the studio mixers intended; and native 7.1 content uses all your speakers.
EQ is for acoustic correction of your room characteristics. It's not for solving the inadequacies of speakers. And unless you've got the appropriate measurement equipment to determine where EQ needs to be applied, attempting to EQ by ear almost always results in doing more harm than good. Flatten your EQ. Turn your subwoofer down so that the notes it plays are the same volume as the notes your mains play. Then set your mains to small and set their crossover point to 80Hz, and set your subwoofer's crossover to 80Hz. Maybe taking some bass out of the mains will relieve the passive crossovers on your tweets of having to filter it out, and improve clarity somewhat.
If you still don't like the sound, then remember this: better sound comes from better speakers. I can't stress this enough. Better sound comes from better speakers. Upgrading electronics will not fix problem speakers. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, audition more speakers. Try some locally owned boutique audio stores. They'd love the opportunity to show you what you're missing. Keep the AVR until it dies or until you absolutely must have a new feature this AVR doesn't support.
