2002 Chevy Malibu...gettin exhaust stuff done

I am gettin work done under the car, same as a friends, and he said if i have a resonator to have it removed and straight-piped. What does this mean? And also, he said get a single chamber flowmaster for the muffler and to have the old one removed. The reason y I'm askin is cuz everytime I go into a performance shop to get summin done on my car, I feel like I'm sorta gettin pulled along cuz I'm a girl, and they think I don't know much. Just like to know what I'm talkin about when I get this done, thanks!

when you look under your car you will notice that there appears to be two mufflers. The one that is pretty much in the middle of your car is the muffler. It muffles most of the noise coming from the tailpipe. You will notice the 2nd muffler closer to the tailpipe. This is a resonator. It just takes the mufflers job one step further and gives the malibu that much more of a quiet ride.

Both the muffler and resonator will restrict the flow of exhaust. By removing these and adding a more efficient muffler, you will generally increase power with the trade off of increased sound. Generally speaking, of course.