Audio Systems: head units, buying speakers, sony unit

Question
The head unit in this car says 180 watts, what exactly does thatrefer to and is that enough to have a loud system in my car. Im going to be buying speakers and a sub and i wanna make sure im not waisting money on speakers that will not be able to perform up to their highest potential

Answer
Ben,

180 isnt alot in todays market it must be an older or cheaper style unit .. most even mid priced and even the high end brands are 54-56 x4 which is 210+ i have a 4 year old sony unit that is 208 watts .. now if you plan on upgrading the speakers i would go ahead and bump up a notch to a good head unit i recommend sony xplod they pump out great power and they are priced very well and perform/last as long if not longer than brand twice as much .. now the head unit really doesnt have to much of an affect on the subs other than some head units offer more control/adjustments for the preouts to the amp that you run... hope this helps you out if you need anything else let me know

thanks