Amplifier - Tuner - Audio Receiver - PreAmplifier... What is the difference?

Question

We'd like to control our home theater as well as control our outdoor system. I have no clue what it is that I need but I'd like it to all be easily contained inside the house
(I'll run outdoor speaker wire from inside to outside for those speakers)
Which one of those do I need??

Answer 1

I will address your question as a series of definitions to clarify the differences, and then try to get more specific from there.

Amplifier: Think of this as a "power supply" for your speakers. An amp is a dumb device and needs a signal to be sent to it by something like a receiver/tuner/preamp, which the amp will then boost up and send out to your speakers.

Tuner: The real definition of a tuner is a device which receives a frequency of some type (radio/tv/satellite...) and modulates it into a usable form. A tuner in your application could be any of the previously mentioned types, and in some cases could be fed directly to an amplifier, but this is not a recommended method of use, as all you would end up with is whatever type of signal your tuner is (ex. if you hooked up a radio tuner directly to an amplifier, all you would have is radio...)

Receiver: This is the modern home theater "jack of all trades". The term 'receiver' generally denotes having a built in amplifier (or several) a tuner of some kind (or sometimes several), and a pre-amp. For home theater, this is usually the easiest and most cost effective method to drive multiple speakers, and multiple zones (such as your outdoor system being a second zone). Look for a "multi-zone receiver" to address your specific needs. These will have several amplifiers for the main system, and several more for use in another zone, and most will even allow you to use different sources (DVD/CD, Radio, Satellite, etc...) in each zone, so you could watch a movie in the main zone while people on your patio could be listening to XM Satellite radio as an example!

Pre-Amplifier: Think of this as a receiver without the amplifiers built in. It's the brain without the brawn. You would be able to connect everything to it (DVD/CD players, Game Systems, etc...) just like a receiver, but you would need to provide external amplification to power your speakers. If you are doing more than 2-3 zones, this can be a good option, as it would allow you to select amplifiers with enough power and enough channels of amplification to drive those extra zones, but if you are only considering the two zones you mentioned above, a receiver is your best option.

Look into having a professional audio/video consultant help you with making the right decisions to ensure you get a system capable of meeting your specific needs. An HAA certified specialist (www.homeacoustics.net), such as myself, can help you with many areas of sound design from system recommendations to speaker locations and audio calibration!

Answer 2

HI there.An Amplifier is a component that receives the tiny electrical signal from a Source component which can be a CD Player,aTuner, a Record Player,a DVD Player etc.and makes a bigger signal to send to the speakers.An Amplifier usually is made up a pre-amplifier and a power amplifier also known as an Integrated Amplifier.
A Tuner is a source component which can be a separate component or part of a Receiver.Its job is to receive radio signals from various transmitters tune into the transmitters and amplify the signal strong enough to be heard .
An Audio Receiver is a component containing a pre-amp section a tuner section and a power amp section all in the one unit.
A Pre amplifier is the first stage of an integrated amplifier,a Receiver or a stand alone unit. The preamplifier is responsible for volume adjustment,input switching and the first stage of amplifying the signal from the source.
A surround sound Receiver will probably do what you want.

Answer 3

You would probably get a Home Theater Receiver. A Receiver is actually a Tuner, Pre-Amplifier and Amplifier all in one unit.

A tuner is the electronics that picks up the radio and/or TV channels. It provides an audio signal of this at line-level.

A Pre-Amp is a control center for multiple inputs such as CD players, tape decks, tuners etc.... It also has the master volume knob and tone controls.

An amplifier takes a line-level signal from a pre-amp and boosts it to drive the speakers. Some amplifiers are interchangeable with amplifiers in concert sound systems and DJ sound systems. In a PA system for a band, the pre-amp is replaced by a mixing board. For a DJ, the pre-amp is replaced by the DJ Mixer.

You will probably just want a Home Theater Receiver that has connections for two sets of speakers. This is a very common feature.

Answer 4

A receiver has a built in amplfier, a standalone amplifier is made to connect to a pre-amp or processor or can connect to some receivers if they have pre-out connections. With separate components you sort of future proof yourself, for instance I have a 7 channel amplifier connected to a processor (which is like a receiver but with no amp section), my processor is a few years old and does not have HDMI and does not process the HD audio formats, I will upgrade to a new processor soon but I will keep my amplifier.

Answer 5

--Amplifier only provides power to speakers, only.
--Tuner only tunes in radio stations (AM/FM), only.
--Pre amp will let you plug in all your sources (ie tuner, CD, DVD, VCR, etc.) it will switch them, and translate surround sound for 5.1 etc. & has the volume control. Some have tuners built in (most do not) some Pre amps can provide outputs for other zones to allow for example the DVD to be played in the theater while the radio plays in the bedroom but will not provide the power to those speakers. There are also multi zone pre amps that are designed to not do surround sound, that are ment to send many different sources (again CD, radio etc.) to many different zones (Living room, Den, Master bed etc.) These pre amps also need amps to power speakers & most use keypads in each zone to control them.
--Audio receiver is a pre amp, multi channel amp, tuner all in one. In most they also can provide signal to a 2nd zone. to do that some need an outboard amp for that 2nd zone, depending on the number of speakers in your theater.

Answer 6

get a home theater receiver . you could go with 5.1 or even 7.1 surround it should be able to fill your needs