question about speakers plus receiver

[daman123]

firstly, if this is in the wrong forum, please move it.

i bought a pair of speakers from my roommate for $50 bucks last year. they're big and look something like this.
sorry i don't have them on me now or know the brand on them.



i want to get a receiver so i can properly use these. can i go cheap on a receiver and still get a good sound? also, i have an old aiwa mini system cd player. the thing that looks something like this but just the middle portion.



can i use this as my cd player or should i just overhaul? if so, how can i do this cheaply.

[Blarg]

You should be fine on using that as your CD player. There should be audio outs that you can feed into your receiver.

If I recall correctly, a receiver is one of the things you can spend less money on without noticing it that much. Cheap speakers, in comparison, will show their poor quality immediately.

I won't talk about impedance or any of that because my memory on that kind of thing is way rusty and there are so many who know better than I do about that.

[daman123]

the speakers are pretty good from what i can tell, but i'm not an expert.

my roommate one day was approached on campus by some dude in a truck wanting to sell some speakers he claimed were originally like $1300 or something to him for $300. not sure why my roommate bought them, but he did. when we all graduated, he was embarrassed to bring them home so he sold them to me for $50.

after that, i set them up on a proper receiver which my roommate never had. like i said, i think they sounded pretty good, but what do i know.

[Myrtle]

First question: It would be extremely helpful to know the brand name and model # of the speakers. Any way you can find out? If you do, you can find out what their power requirements are, and therefore get a receiver that will power them properly. FWIW, from what I can make out by looking at them, they are configured in a similar fashion to many British loudspeakers. If so, they are likely pretty inefficient and will need adequate power to play at reasonable volume levels.

From your second post in this thread: The old “buy ‘em cheap off the truck’ scam has been worked all over this country for the last 25 years, and continues to work to this day. There are numbers of unscrupulous parties out there that will build a run of ‘knock-offs’ that look really good or have a brand name that ‘sounds like’ a real brand name. The drivers, crossovers (if they even have then!) are junk and the quality of construction is non-existent, and they sound like crap, but…..Whatta deal I got!......DOH!

2nd question: As Blarq said, if there are pre-amp level audio outputs on your Aiwa, you can use it. You should be aware, however, that not all CD players are created equal, and it is highly likely that the CD mechanism and electronics in the Aiwa are not of the highest quality. Bottom line? It may work, but it might not get you quality sound. Easiest way to find out is to hook it up and listen to it. Then borrow a good CD player from a buddy, and listen to the same CD on it. If you can hear the difference, then you have your answer. If you can’t, you’re fine.

[jws43yale]

If you want to overhaul cheaply, Best Buy sells a 2 channel Insignia reciever for $89. Really good for the price. Then just buy a cord that plugs in the back that will hook to your iPod and you are all set up.

[Myrtle]

[ QUOTE ]
If you want to overhaul cheaply, Best Buy sells a 2 channel Insignia reciever for $89. Really good for the price. Then just buy a cord that plugs in the back that will hook to your iPod and you are all set up.

[/ QUOTE ]

What does it sound like?