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Guide to Using Small Affordable Speaker Amps

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The potential range of uses for these tiny amps is wide and varied.

Desktop speaker system connected to a PC via USB

Small bedroom system with bookshelf-sized speakers

DIY applications, such as speaker building and testing

Home music studio

Small 2-channel home theater system

An office system fed by mobile device connected via Bluetooth

Strictly speaking, all these amplifiers are integrated amplifiers, meaning they accept an input source or sources — such as a Bluetooth signal, a CD player, or a PC connected via USB — and add gain to the signal in order to drive a pair of unpowered speakers.

If you’re looking for an best 4 channel amp for home to drive a set of powered speakers, you need to look for an affordable preamp. None of the amplifiers in this ranking will be suitable, as none of them has line-level outputs. All the amplifiers in this ranking have speaker wire terminals as outputs. You connect one end of the speaker wires to the amplifier’s speaker wire binding posts (or in some cases, spring clip terminals), and the other ends to the terminals on the back of your speakers, making sure to match left and right, and the (+) and (-) terminals from the amp to the speaker.

If you want to connect a PC, Mac, or laptop, you want an amplifier with a USB input. There are many such examples in this ranking.

If you want to stream music from your smart phone or laptop, look for an amplifier with Bluetooth. Bluetooth 5.0 in particular supports higher data transfer rates, which can mean higher audio quality.

If you want to connect a CD player or turntable with line-level outputs, look for an amplifier with RCA inputs. Most of the amplifiers in this ranking have RCA inputs.

If you want to be able to connect your headphones or earbuds, look for an amplifier with a headphone jack.

If you want to be able to customize the sound, look for a basic amplifier with tone controls.

If you want to be able to control the amp from across the room, you need a 4 channel amplifier with a remote control or support for an app.

An integrated amplifier with build-in FM (or AM/FM) tuner is typically referred to as an audio receiver. or simply a receiver. These is one such example in this ranking. When other products use the term “receiver,” they’re often referring to a built-in Bluetooth receiver.

About this Ranking

For this ranking, we chose the most highly-rated home stereo amps under $120 (most are well under $100, with a few coming in under $50), and we tried to select amps from a variety of manufacturers and products offering a range of features. Note that many of these affordable 2-channel amps are marketed under a variety of brand names. Models found under the names Fosi, Pyle, and Dayton Audio, however, tend to be unique to those brands. It’s worth doing your homework to find the feature set you desire in an inexpensive stereo amplifier.

To be honest, there are some amazing features to be found even at this cheap price point – features like Bluetooth 5.0, subwoofer line outputs, headphone jacks, and tube preamp sections. A few offer remote control and/or control via app. Many of these amps offer USB inputs, making them a superb choice for a quality-sounding and inexpensive two-channel system connected to a PC or laptop.


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Guide to Using Small Affordable Speaker Amps

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Part of the Society collection

Updated on June 27, 2021

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