There is some truth in what jwb474 says - depending on the speakers in question, you may not really need many watts. Klipsch horn speakers are an obvious example of speakers so efficient that they don't need much power. And somewhere out west, former forum regular soundhound is driving a pretty startling large theater full of vintage Altec Lansing speakers with an assortment of 5W and 10W tube amps, with results that are reported to be spectacular. It's still a little amusing to see an amp that sells for $140 between a pair of speakers costing around 150 times as much (no matter how well the little amp fared in the system). Of course, some exotic amp makers may find it less humorous and more unsettling...