I have an old set of speakers that i found in my house recently. 4 speakers and a sub and they have never been taken out of the package. What I wondering is if there is anyway to use them without a receiver? I am a student so money is tight. Are there any other options than buying a receiver to use them?
The bad news is, even with a receiver you'll still need a source player (CD/DVD) to plug into the receiver unless you just really, really like the radio stations in your area.
You might want to look into a computer based system and do some reserach on the speakers. If they have a very high electrical sensitivity spec (90dB or so) you could pick up a fairly inexpensive T-amp as the power amp.
Head over to the computer section of the forum and ask a few questions about using a computer as a source player.
Sorry to disrespect my elders but feel free to ignore Jan Vigne and Nuck. They are thinking retail thoughts. I suggest Will D go to his local Craigslist, garage sale, or thrift store.
All modern receivers have lots of home theater features for supporting 5, 7, 8 or more speakers and simultaneously supporting various resolutions of video output.
Will doesn't need any of that. A stereo receiver that drives music into two or even four speakers and does little else, is completely obsolete now. So a used one can be had for not much money.
Make sure everything works on it, especially if it is in a thrift store, and be sure it has the remote. A remote always seems like a frippery until the 100th time you have to get up to adjust the volume.
The question was, "Are there any other options than buying a receiver to use them?"
So how does the response, "buy a used receiver", answer that question?
Obviously, even in our advanced years and state of rapid mental deterioration (largely brought on by having to put up with the precocious "youth" of today) Nuck and I understand the pre-owned market place. But, "where can I buy a cheap receiver?", was not the question posed by the op.
And, of course, since this is a public forum Will gets to ingore anyone he so chooses.
You can use a power amp and a computer as an alternative to using a receiver (and some other source). I've done this with an ancient NAD 2150 I had at one point.
You control the amp volume with the computer volume. Be very careful.