Sound for old passive speakers

[LizBee]

I know nothing about home audio and hope you can help me!

I have a pair of Technics floor speakers (SB-A50 3-way, 200w) in excellent condition that I would like to use again.

What I'd like is a way to play music via bluetooth primarily, but I would not mind USB or even a 3.5mm jack. I do not need AM/FM.

Do I need a receiver and an amplifier, or is there one single component that I could get? I don't have but about $300 or so to spend right now, but can wait and save more for this if what I need can't be done for that amount.

Thanks for any help you can give me-
Liz

 

[markw]

you do need an integrated amplifier or a receiver. With your budget there should be no problem.

 

[LizBee]

Thanks, Markw, but what specifically am I looking for? I don't have a clue where to look or exactly what I'm looking for. I am unfamiliar with the terms, and don't know how many watts I need, etc.

 

[highfigh]

Thanks, Markw, but what specifically am I looking for? I don't have a clue where to look or exactly what I'm looking for. I am unfamiliar with the terms, and don't know how many watts I need, etc.

What music sources would you use- CDs, DVD, BluRay, Radio, Streaming sources like Pandora, Spotify, etc, phono?

If you want to listen to the radio, you may need a receiver, but streaming devices like Roku, AppleTV and others have internet radio and that would eliminate the need to deal with bad reception. I'm so close to the tower that one of the few stations I listen to doesn't come in without noise, so I use ShoutCast with my Roku- it sounds great and they're the best-sounding station in town.

If you don't need a regular radio, an integrated amplifier (has the input jacks, controls and amplifier in one piece) will work great and it might offer features/performance that you can't find in a comparably-priced receiver.

As far as power, if you want it loud, you should probably get something over 50 Watts/channel but short distance to the speakers may make higher power unnecessary. A smaller room does this, too.

 

[markw]

It's really not that difficult.

You need, at minimum a stereo receiver. You COULD go for a true multi-channel unit which allows for expansion to a true home theater. Plus, after a point, you get better "bang for your buck" with multi-channel receivers.

Either will work using that 3.5 mm output via an inexpensive cable. As for bluetooth, maybe someone else could chime in on that.

Don't get too hung up on watts. The marketing departments play fast and loose with those numbers and, besides, yo don't need a heckuva lot to drive your speakers to ear-spltting levels.

Play around with this "home audio" section of this site. Yyou'll find a good selection of and you can't really go wrong with any of them.

http://www.accessories4less.com/

FWIW, I just picked up one of these for our second home, and I'm quite satisfied.

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/yamrs201bl/yamaha-r-s201-natural-sound-stereo-receiver/1.html

Nothing fancy, but it fills the room with good sound. And, it's got four inputs and a tape monitor, which is a good thing

 

[LizBee]

This is what I need, examples of actual devices. People have said I need a separate receiver and amp, this or that many watts, very specific to drive these specific speakers, making me think it is too complicated for me lol.

We'd like to Bluetooth our phones to play music, with stored music, Pandora, Amazon music etc. like we do with our sound bar in the main living area. This is a very small parlor, music room, 10 x 12 size, so we don't need a lot of power.

 

[lovinthehd]

Many like to get additional amps (often unnecessarily, too) for their receivers. Definition for a receiver is a combination of an onboard source, (typically am/fm radio but now more internet app oriented as well as with wi-fi capabilities) with a pre-amp section as well as an amplifier all in one box, with inputs and outputs for multiple audio video source and destination devices for management. An integrated amp has no radio/onboard sources, just the pre-amp/amp part.

You don't need to use all the features of a multi-ch receiver (avr) but they can be very well priced compared to 2ch stereo integrated amps (they sell a lot more avrs these days). If you never want to go the home theater route there are still a few stereo receivers and integrated amps at somewhat reasonable prices. Might look around at accessories4less.com for a bargain....