Okay, I understand vaguely that a receiver is just a thing that takes inputs, and powers a bunch of speakers. What I don’t understand quite so well is what a CD receiver for a car is.
Half of the ones that I see have slots through which you feed CDs, and the other half don’t. The only thing I can really assume from the latter is that you’d have to load some CD changer in the trunk or something. Either that, or the face would drop down, and reveal the slot.
The reason I ask this is because I’m looking at an “MD receiver” at Crutchfield. Now, with this, will I have to go out and find an MD changer (I know, I know. They’re getting more rare and more obsolete), or will the slot be hidden behind the face?
“Receiver” means that it “receives” radio signals. Not that it receives other inputs.
If your looking at CD receivers it usually means that they have a CD player built into them along with an am/fm receiver.
If your looking at pictures in a Crutchfield catalog the CD receivers that look like they have no slots for the cds probably have drop down faces. The face of the deck flips open and the slot is behind it.
I wouldn’t invest in a MD deck. Pre-recorded MDs are getting harder and harder to find. If you are looking at recording your own music get a burner for your computer.
I dunno, I’ve always heard receiver to mean a device that receives all the various inputs from an audio system. My home system has a seperate receiver and radio. The radio, CD player, TV all plug plug into the the receiver.
I would think that a CD receiver means that its a receiver with a built in CD player.
When speaking of sound equipment, the term “receiver,” for reasons that aren’t readily apparent, refers to a device that includes a radio receiver, a preamp (to accept inputs from various other devices), and an amplifier.
Oddly, if it doesn’t include an amplifier, it’s not called a “receiver,” but would simply be called a “tuner/preamp.” If it doesn’t include the radio part, it’s not called a “receiver,” either, but is called an “integrated amplifier” (i.e., it includes both an amp and a preamp).
So, a “CD receiver” would include a radio tuner, a preamp, an amplifier, and a CD player. Some automobile head units don’t include the amplifier, so you’d need another black box somewhere to power the speakers, but a receiver contains everything needed. As others have pointed out, if you can’t see the CD loading slot, it’s just hidden behind a flip-down plate of some sort.
That’s odd. A stereo receiver is a single case containing a pre-amplifier ( volume and tone controls ), amplifier ( power ), and tuner ( radio reception and control ) for two-channel playback. i.e. the radio is already built in. Why you would have a separate radio/tuner that plugs into it is beyond me.
An integrated amplifier is a pre-amp + amp. No tuner.
An a/v receiver is essentially a receiver with a digital processor for multi-channel playback.
Generally audiophiles prefer separate boxes for everything, as the more items you cram into a single case, the more constrained you are by space and heat and the more compromises you have to make in design. All things being equal, separates will therefore usually be of higher quality than a receiver. Though there are certainly exceptions - one can buy a truly outstanding stereo receiver like Magnum-Dynalab’s $3000 MD-208, that will probably outshine cheap separates. Though frankly for the same money, you can quite likely get separates ( or an integrated amp/tuner combo ) that will outperform even that monster - it’s more for space conscious folks that can afford that sort of quality.
No, they don’t. They might have tuners separate from the amplifiers. The term receiver is just as others have described, an amplifier with a built-in tuner.