2 answers
★ Best answer
RMS watts is what actually matters because that's the continuous power your speaker can handle without damage - peak watts are just marketing fluff, a theoretical spike that lasts milliseconds and doesn't tell you anything useful about real-world performance. When you're matching an amp to speakers, always spec to the RMS rating on both sides; if your amp puts out 50 watts RMS and your speaker is rated for 50 watts RMS, you've got a solid match that'll play clean without blowing anything up. Peak wattage is like knowing a car's top speed when you mostly drive in the city - technically true but not what determines whether your system will work reliably.
What actually matters is matching your amplifier's RMS output to the speaker's RMS rating - if your amp pushes way more watts than the speaker can handle continuously, you'll fry it regardless of peak numbers. Peak watts are basically noise in the spec sheet, but the real trick is that underpowering a speaker (running it too quiet through a weak amp) can damage it just as much because the driver works harder and gets hot, so you want a decent power match.
Your answer
Log into answer.