a little confusion about power

I dont know what made me think of this but I am a little confused about something.  It has been said here before by Rob or dyohn im pretty sure that an amp will put out its full power no matter what the gain and such.  Take my amp for example it will put out 1100 watts @1ohm, so each of my subs are getting 550watts.  They will continue to get this regardless of gain, eq or whatever.  So here is my thinking...if the watts stay the same then so should amps.  So why does a stock electrical system go ape sh*t when big bass hits.  1100w is being pushed regardless of volume or freq right? Does this make sence?  I think i may of have confused myself.  Oh and i do not have this problem as i do have a HO alt.  This is just a thought and i am trying to better understand car elecronics.Memphis MC-1300

2 12" JLw6v2

Diamond audio M3 6x9

Diamond audio M3 5.25 components

Audio control Matrix

Carputer

A little confusing, yes.  The amp is capable of reaching its maximum output at all times when the gain is set correctly according to the input voltage.  It will only max out when deck is at full volume and source material is extreme.  If you were to hook up a multimeter to the speaker outputs (any of them) on the amp, you will see a widely diverse voltage output according to volume, etc.  Turn up the deck volume and you'll see the voltage increase.Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

I think "RMS" is partly to blame for that.  One might think of a driver as getting RMS watts no matter how loud one plays the system, whereas it really means "the wattage (power) the driver can sustain without failing .....all day long".  With an amplifier, rated power refers to the power it can provide within the specs set forth in the rating.  But both definitions are idealistic, as a lot of manufacturers seem to find ways to fudge their ratings.  It's definitely a confusing bit of nonsense, which is one reason why this forum is so valuable and so much fun! Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.