RMS? huh?

Hey,

I know nothing at all about car stereo's!
I'm looking for a cd reciever to replace the tape one in my cars, and i always see all these numbers which i have no idea the meaning to?

For example,

22 W RMS x 4

what does this mean?
Also, what do factory systems generally have on 1994, 1995 Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles?

Thanks.

There's gotta be someone that can help me out?

From =http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/techcenter/articles/44841/article.html

Amplifier output is typically measured in watts per channel, with a normal stereo system having two channels, left and right. You'll frequently see "RMS" after the wattage figure — this stands for "Root Mean Square," which is a mathematical measurement of the magnitude of the AC signal. More watts means more power output to the speakers, which in turn means louder volume.



- So basiclly RMS is the average power the amp / head unit will put out.
Make sure the figures you are given are RMS not "maximum power"

So what do stock receivers generally put out in a Pontiac or Olds?

Not sure about the stock sterio but i agree and if u dont ask to see the manual some companies selling equipment to u will give u wrong info. like for example u can have 2 amps that are 1000 watts but unless u check to be positive thats the rms or root mean square basically the rms is the ammount of power it will play at continuasly. So if u get an amp that says 1000 and thats peak well yeah u might hit that a couple times but not alot of people know that thats peak or if its rms the company just says its 1000 watts. So be careful when shopping:greenchai