Car Stereos: Speaker/Amp Matching, alpine speakers, watt rms

Question
I have two 55 watt rms(4 Ohm) alpine speakers in the front and two 50 watt rms(4 Ohm) in the back. I am looking to buy an amplifier to boost up my system. How do i find an amplifier to match the rms for these speakers. For example if an amplifier specs said (Power @ 4 Ohm: 115W x 4) would that be too powerful? Can you tell me the max wattage x 4 that i can use without damaging my speakers? Thank you.

Answer
Hi Matt,

Buying an amplifier with more power than your speakers will not damage them, and is probably even a better option than one that is very close or underpowered, as you could cause distortion and clipping.

Just make sure you don't send more power to the speakers than they can handle -- you'll know if you're sending them too much power because of the distortion.

Justin