WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH WATTS?

Power, watts or amperage isn't going to tell how an amplifier will sound compared to another. I can only provide you my real life experience with Jeff Rowland products. I had a Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 Integrated Amp. The S2 is rated at 400 watts @ 8 ohms / 800 watts @ 4 ohms. I traded the S2 to purchase the 625 S2 amp. The 625 S2 is rated at 325 watts @ 8 ohms / 600 watts @ 4 ohms. Everything about the 625 S2 is better...the soundstage, bass, mids, highs, tonality. Unfortunately, specification don't always give an indication of how an amplifier is going to sound. The Continuum S2 is Class D and the 625 S2 is Class AB. My point is there are other factors that determine an amps sound that has absolutely nothing to do with its power rating. In my opinion, it's better to spend extra money to get a better sounding amplifier; not necessarily a more power amp!   

The again, not everyone hears the same...an upgrade to one could be nails on a chalk board for another!

True power specs shouldn’t be a be all when shopping for an amplifier of course. But always very helpful indicators because no one likes leaving half of a steak sitting on a table. The drop in power could just mean the lesser still had adequate power to bring out the speakers strengths according to your likes. Its obvious you like the new amp for other said reasons. Be that as it may. If it lacked enough power to push the attributes in the new amplifier and bring forth the qualities you like in the speakers your using I doubt you would be as fond of it. Ive seen people blame speakers, or even feel content with speakers. Then switch to an amplifier with more current even close in design then see the speakers they thought they knew so well in a much brighter light.

I run 125 wpc on some 93 db B&W 803's and have to use another amp to drive subs. If you are going to have tone controls and plan to use a bit of bass boost, more power might help. otherwise, the actual difference between 80 and 125 watts is pretty moot, maybe a db in sound level. One db is defined as the actual threshold of change in volume we can hear.

Usually, I do not use my subs and probably wouldn't even need them in a normal house that is divided up more. My house is one relatively big room with two bedrooms on the side away from my speakers.

More important than the actual watts is how these watts work, i.e., how big is the power supply. If the power rating on the amp is at 1000 cps, for example, the power supply is probably too small. If the rating is full range, at least 20-20000 cps, it is what you want. 

I also have an Adcom 65 wpc amp that is heavy for what it is, meaning a big transformer.   For a $50 Craigslist amp, it did quite well pushing two pairs of very inefficient B&W DM 14/1400's, and it was loud enough; however, since these speakers mute the sound when an amp clips, the speakers did shut down much sooner than with the amp with twice the power, meaning it could have blown tweeters from clipping the signal, because of too little power. 

Watts is like HP - it tells you nothing about the torque, it will give you a hint how fast (loud) a car can go but thats useless when you listen in the 1 to 5 Watt range at 80 to 90 db. Its about the instant acceleration, how much torque and at what rpm it will be available. Some speakers (heavy cones) need a high damping factor for the bass but the mids and highs will suffer because the most immediate and best sounding amps are pure high current CLASS A with low feedback.