Amplifier's Amps?

Those ratings refer to short term peak amps. Not continuous amps. It could mean the 100 amp has a bigger power supply and will have a little more head room.. I do not feel that these peak current ratings really means to much. Depends how they are measured.
Alan

Amps are not the usual measure of an amplifier but the slew rate and peak current capacity are meaningful. Certain speaker draw a lot of current "amps" and a well designed amplifier can produce them quickly. Is that the answer you wanted. I got the sense that you wondered how an amplifier works which is a slightly longer tale, and different if SS withe their transresistors or the tube amp which is valve like in it's behavior. So after all that more information needed>

Rlwainright - It is an awesome amp, very impressed for its perfomance in my system. I had an opportunity to pick up the Parasound at a favorable amount and couldn't pass it up. I'm wondering if I should hold onto the Sig as a backup amp or sell it

Mechans - I see, so what you're saying is that more amps would benefit power hungry speakers like a pair of Maggies but other more efficient speakers wouldn't benefit because they're easier to "drive"?

If I'm not mistaken, the figure you see on the back panel of an amplifier (and I'll use an 80 watt Marantz 16) is power consumtion: 300 watts. In other words, this amplifier consumes 300 watts of ac input to produce 80 watts audio output. I'm assuming this may be a class A amplifier. The least efficient in terms of power consumption. You may also see wattage for accessory outlets. Not the same thing.