Hook up mp3 to speaker wires? My house has built in speakers, NOT a home theater system but just little ones

Question

The wires are in a cabinet and just have "raw" ends. There's 4 wires for 4 speakers. I don't want to buy am amplifier. BTW, I haven't bought an mp3 yet, just figured that would be smarter than buying a cd player. Any suggestions please!

Answer 1

You may not want to buy an amplifier, but that's what you're going to have to do to get a small MP3 player to work with speakers like that.

Why not get a CD player that plays MP3's too? Many of the new models do that, so you can burn lots of songs to a single CD.

Maybe a shelf system would solve all of your issues: it could have a CD/MP3 player and the amplifier you'd need to power those built in speakers, all for about the same price as just a player.

Here's a JVC from Circuit City that could do it for you for under $100...

Answer 2

Like the other pros in their answers, stay a way from Bose, Yes i do this for a living too. I am not going to specify a brad cuz i don't know your budget. So with out a budget my recommendation is to spend the same amount on speakers that you spent on your DVD, CD, and Receiver combined. So if you have a $200 DVD + $100 CD + $700 receiver then spend $1000 on the speakers or more if you have the cash. Speakers make the biggest difference! Also for music and movies, if your budget allows, get something with larger front speakers that can represent bass. Subs are fine if that's the system you can afford, although bass is mostly non-directional, even i can tell where a 30Hz tone is coming from so frontal bass is more satisfying. And by all means if you can afford larger front and a sub then do both. Listening tip, people tend to buy overly bright or bass sounding speakers (Bose) because side by side to a "smooth" pair they seem to sound better. That is until you get fatigued from listening to them. So think when you are listening "wow that treble is crisp and loud, sounds good"...... think about it, is it over the top, is that going to bug me when I'm watching a movie? hope this helps