Help please choosing AMP wattage for a newbe

Speakers are usually damaged by using an amp that is too low in power rather than too high. When an amp is overdriven it will go into clipping and pass DC current through to the speakers , heating them up and eventually burning them out. The power rating usually denotes the constant power input they are able to handle. Music consists of constantly changing power levels, with peaks usually lasting only a short time. I myself use a 275 watt amp with speakers rated at 50 watts and have no trouble. Unless you play hard rock at a constant , extremely high level you should have no problem. Speakers rated at 50 watts can withstand 500 watt peaks, 200 watts is a high power rating in any case.

Well said Stan......

Max wattage is a pretty useless figure. Min wattage and efficiency mean much more. Keep in mind that a 92db rated speaker will require 1/2 the wattage to hit the same volume as an 89db rated speaker. My main amp is only 20 watts and I never run out of power. However, 94db speakers are much less hungry than logans.
An 86db speaker will need 10 times the wattage to equal that of a 96db rated speaker (usually a horn).
Every 3db requires a doubling of wattage.
Percieved volume will double with an increase of 10db. So, you have to increase by 10 times to double volume. 1 watt on a 90db speaker will need about 9 watts to double the volume. The problem is that to double it again, 20db increase will take a ton of power (approx 75 watts) will achieve around 110db which is THX rated levels.
Now do that for an 86db speaker and you are looking at 175-190 watts to hit the same levels as that 90db speaker.