amplifer question

When I move outta my apart. at the end of summer, I want to upgrade my stereo system. I want to get a receiver (~$300), a set of front speakers, and a center channel. I've got 2 awesome rears and a sweet sub. Now my question is about amplifers. Does it just put more power into your speakers when hooked up to the receiver (so do i get louder sound from my speakers?) How exactly does it plug into the receiver? Do I have to buy a special receiver that can handle an amp? What is a good brand/model I can get for cheap? Some of those prices are CRAZY on ebay....several hundred $.
thanks

Your amp doesn't plug into your reciever, your reciever should have a Sub Out channel. Get a wiring harness for your amp. Connet the Sub Out from your receiver into your sub in on your amp. Then you hook your sub(s) to the out side of your amp...find out the watts and ohms of your sub, and use that as a reference for what amp to buy. Sony is good, Kicker is better, but for your money Legacy is a good deal too(i got 800W for $100).

::ahem::


go check out Cars in General > Car Audio

Check out www.bcae1.com (http://www.bcae1.com/) for some basic info.

For $300 you should be able to get a decent deck with 3 RCA preouts: 1 for the left channel, 1 for the right channel, and 1 for the sub. With preouts you can connect directly to amps with RCA cables.

Otherwise (in addition) there are speaker outputs from the receiver. The speaker outputs can only sometimes connect directly to amps (if they are equipped to handle "high level" inputs). If not, you have to get a line ouput converter to convert the high level signals to low level ones and then connect to the RCA inputs of the amp.

Amps come in mono / 2 channel / 4 channel (and even 5 channel). Depending on the receiver you buy, you can start with just a mono amp to drive your sub and drive your other speakers from the receiver. But amp selection will really depend on what you want to do sound-wise, how much you want to spend, and then selecting the right size amp(s) to match up with your speakers (go by RMS power ratings, not peak).

Then you also gotta make sure you're wired up correctly (ample gauge wires, proper fusing/grounding, etc.). And solder (don't crimp) all your connects if you can help it.

From your question, it looks like it would help for you to keep learning until you're comfortable with what you're going to do.

Good luck!

Arrgh - what was I thinking?!
The 3 preouts are for front / back / sub.
Sorry for the brain fart!