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<blockquote data-quote="n2audio" data-source="post: 8703658" data-attributes="member: 540940">Power ratings in general are a very gray area, and the cheaper the equipment the more gray it is.RMS is all that matters.&nbsp; Quality brands generally rate equipment accurately.&nbsp; Cheap brands -- you get what you pay for, trust the price tag -- not the ratings.A quality speaker that&#039;s rated for ~50w rms is going to work fine with a 20w head unit.&nbsp; It won&#039;t blow the doors off by any stretch, but it will produce decent sound at moderate volume.&nbsp; When the HU runs out of power the signal will begin to clip and sound quality will fall.Take the same speaker and put it on a 50w amplifier -- at low/moderate levels it won&#039;t sound much different, but where the 20w HU began to struggle, the amp will begin to shine.&nbsp; The extra power will allow the speaker to continue playing clear at a higher volume.&nbsp; However, it won&#039;t sound twice as loud.&nbsp; Mathematically, doubling power yields a 3db increase in sound.&nbsp; It takes about 10x the power to (10dB) for sound to double.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="n2audio, post: 8703658, member: 540940"] Power ratings in general are a very gray area, and the cheaper the equipment the more gray it is. RMS is all that matters. Quality brands generally rate equipment accurately. Cheap brands -- you get what you pay for, trust the price tag -- not the ratings. A quality speaker that's rated for ~50w rms is going to work fine with a 20w head unit. It won't blow the doors off by any stretch, but it will produce decent sound at moderate volume. When the HU runs out of power the signal will begin to clip and sound quality will fall. Take the same speaker and put it on a 50w amplifier -- at low/moderate levels it won't sound much different, but where the 20w HU began to struggle, the amp will begin to shine. The extra power will allow the speaker to continue playing clear at a higher volume. However, it won't sound twice as loud. Mathematically, doubling power yields a 3db increase in sound. It takes about 10x the power to (10dB) for sound to double. [/QUOTE]

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