Not exactly. When I was buying speakers a few years ago, I did some research and found a great article in one of those computer magazines (the article is probably gone but I'm sure you can find information on the Internet).
The wattage number is used by most speaker retailers to sound impressive and to one-up each other. In reality, there are different kinds of wattage (for different components of the speaker) and only one of them is really important. That's why you see really cheap speakers with 600 watts and expensive speakers for 100 watts: they're not talking about the same thing. I think "total wattage" is the misleading one, because it just adds up all the different kinds of wattage, whether important or not.
Here's an article I found on Google:
http://peripherals.about.com/od/speakers/bb/choosingspeaker.htm It doesn't say much about wattage (it says that it's the least important thing to consider, which I only half-agree: it's important for how loud your speakers can be, but you have to know what kind of wattage you're looking for).
I have Altec Lansing speakers and they're wonderful -- I've received numerous compliments about the quality of sound. On several occasions, people have passed by my dorm room and were surprised that the music was coming from my computer speakers.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
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