Posted by wsjoe on November 03, 2003 at 12:20:25:
In Reply to: Re: Sansui Receiver 551 output power wattage posted by BeatleFred on October 10, 2003 at 14:15:34:
RMS,
It simplymeans Root Mean Square. If you have a signal that is constant the entire time, then the signal = average signal = rms signal, BUT most signals are not constant. They vary with time. The usual way to vary is a sinusoidal one, just like a sine wave. An easy way to compute the RMS value is to look at one sample of this wave and break it into 5 or 10 or as many sections. One sample would be 360 degrees or the time it takes to go one cycle. Let's say you have 10 sections. RMS value would be adding all the y-axis readings squared. Then divide by the number of divisions or 10 in this case and then taking the square root. If the height of the sinusoidal is 1 then the rms value is 0.707.