[Alc Jr]

Hello guys, today is Christmas and I received some Insignia Bass Reflex bookshelf speakers as a gift. I'm pumped to use them, although I need to buy an amplifier or a receiver and I'm really at a crossroads as to which one will get superior sound quality in the budget price range. I'm looking at the Sonic Impact T Amp 5066 for about 50-70 bucks, although my dad tells me a receiver has more options but offers no real change in sound quality as opposed to an amplifier.
So, who is correct? In the budget range is an amplifier or a receiver going to deliver superior quality?

 

[mikemalter]

Quote:

Hello guys, today is Christmas and I received some Insignia Bass Reflex bookshelf speakers as a gift. I'm pumped to use them, although I need to buy an amplifier or a receiver and I'm really at a crossroads as to which one will get superior sound quality in the budget price range. I'm looking at the Sonic Impact T Amp 5066 for about 50-70 bucks, although my dad tells me a receiver has more options but offers no real change in sound quality as opposed to an amplifier.
So, who is correct? In the budget range is an amplifier or a receiver going to deliver superior quality?

If it were me I'd look at a good budget priced two channel integrated with a phono stage.  This way you have something decent sounding and a lot of flexibility to try different sources.  I am still using the Arcam bottom of the line integrated I got for my office.
 
Hope this helps.
 

 

[RexAeterna]

all receiver is,is a amplifier with built-in tuner section really(well for stereo anyways)

don't need high wattage amp either since it only takes 1wat into 8ohm's to reach about 82-89db for effcient/sensitive speakers. i forgot what model it was but sherwood has a really nice stereo receiver/amp,100wpc@8ohms for around 90 bucks. it's in lot of radioshack stores. it's discontinued but still selling. heard it's a really nice sounding unit.

for cheaper i would check craigslist and so forth cause to be honest with todays marketing it'll be hard finding anything decent for price your looking. in your case for that price i be looking at some vintage receivers or  intergrated amps. can get one hell of a receiver cheap when going vintage. kenwood,sherwood,yamaha,sansui,mcs,technics,onkyo and hitachi all models that go relatively cheap but can sound insanely good(better than marantz,mcintosh and pioneer in some or most cases). just check to see if it's in nice working order before buying. lot people just forget about things and just put things in the attic or basement and forget about it till they feel like making some cash.

you can get some amazing things at low cost. you don't have to spend a lot for quality. just have to know where to look,when to look,and ask around,also doing some reading can help. hope this helps alittle and Merry Christmas.

 

[JerryLove]

An amp will generally be single input, and no (useful) volume control. So if these speakers are intended to use only a single device, and that device has its own volume control (for example: your computer) then an amp is a cost-effective choice. One caviat is that an amp has no provision to add a subwoofer (though some computer sound cards do)
 
In integrated amp adds a volume control and the ability to connect to more than one device and choose between them. If you are planning on using multiple, audio-only devices this might be an option. There are a few problems. 
1) Receivers are often less expensive for the same output
2) Generally no subwoofer out
 
A stereo receiver takes an integrated amp and adds (usually) decoding for digital formats, a sub out, and a radio tuner. There is, however, a great deal of variance in receivers. If you are audio only, this is all you need (though again, there may be a cost advantage to an AVR).
 
An AVR (Audio-Video Receiver) will have all of the above and then some. It will be able to take inputs from multiple devices both analog and digital. It will be able to decode digital signals. It will be able to split out signals to 6, 8, or 10 speakers. It will work in video as well as audio. It will have a volume control and a built in radio. A typical AVR (7.1) is all of the following combined
1) A radio tuner
2) A audio/video DAC
3) A device switch
4) A format transcoder
5) An active crossover
6) An active equalizer
8) A pre-amp with volume control
9) 7 Amplifiers
 
It's also often a network streaming client now as well.

 

[Alc Jr]

Thank you so much for the responses everyone, I suppose as sound quality doesn't appear to be a large issue in an amplifier vs receiver debate I'll go for the receiver as there can be subwoofer outs and better volume control.