MrEd and kkmusic2001,

Think of a speaker and amplifier like they were automobiles. Let's say your car has 500 horsepower. When you are driving down the road at 35 mph you are not using all 500 horsepower.

Even though your friend has a 1000 watt amp doesn't mean he is pumping 1000 watts into the speaker. If your friend has all the volume controls turned up all the way maybe then he is using all 1000 watts. The same for a car, if you put your foot to the floor and keep it there maybe you are using all 500 horsepower.

Think of the extra watts in an amp as extra horsepower to be used for passing and climbing hills and pulling boats. When the musical passage reaches a loud point or really heavy bass is needed you have the reserve power to handle it.

A 350 watt speaker means you should be able to pump a CLEAN 350 watt signal into it and it will not self destruct. If you are outputing a clean 150 watt signal your speaker has an extra 200 watts of reserve capacity before it goes boom.

Tom