Amplifiers are measured by the power it can provide, it is the most important feature of an amp, power will determines on how loud your stereo can play, and how much power it will draw from the electrical system.
They are many wrong idea about amp’s power, the most common myth is that too much power will cause broken speakers more often than underpowered speakers, this is wrong! The most common cause of speaker failure is a damage from amplifier distortion or amplifier clipping, an underpowered amp can produce clipping sound that can result in blown speaker, or even worse a blown amp.
When you decide to use an amp, make sure you match the amp’s power to the speaker’s power rating, that will give the maximum safe output of the speakers. Also make sure the amp’s power rating meats CEA 2006 standards. Choose an amp that can deliver one half the rated RMS power handling of the midrange and tweeters.
As for the subs, you have to balance the sub’s output with the rest of the system, choose amp with at least one-quarter the RMS sub’s continuous power handling. Usually you wont need to exceed the sub’s RMS power handling to balance the system. If you want to achieve a high bass output, choose an amp that can deliver the sub’s peak power handling. Peak power handling is the amount of power a sub can safely handle for a brief moments. DO NOT ever exceed the sub’s peak power rating.
