Advice Needed on New/Different Amplifier for OLD Bose 201 Series III Speakers

[backwoodscritter]

(This is my first time asking for advice here on Tom's Guide - I hope the info here makes some sense!)

After having to discard an equally old and malfunctioning Sony STR-DE825 Receiver Amplifier, I am forced to find another amplifier.

The Bose 201 Series III speakers (one pair) are still in great shape after all these years, so I'd like to hook them up to a Receiver Amplifier that will breathe new life into them for a very loosely termed "home theater" I'm setting up in my 16' x 18' living room. I listen to all sorts of music genres, so I do appreciate decent sound. I do plan to eventually add a second pair of speakers -- not Bose -- but I'll seek advice on that later on.

Budget is always a looming concern unfortunately, so the goal is to get as much bang-for-the-buck as possible. My wishlist includes separate controls for bass and treble and perhaps a bass booster control as well.

What qualities should I look for? Are there any brands out there to avoid? Is a Bluetooth unit advisable or necessary?

Thank so much for any advice you all can offer - it's wearing me out googling this stuff!

 

[americanaudiophile]

Your Bose neither require or can handle a great deal of power so you don't need that much. They also have very limited potential for great sound so you choice of receiver will depend on what speakers you want to get later, If you want to use them as rears and add new speakers for the front that would make sense. The problem is that surround sound receiver don't usually have tone controls.
You could use a stereo receiver like the Cambridge Audio SR20 that has optical in. That would make connecting a TV easier since most don't have analog outputs. Bluetooth would only help if you wanted to make a wireless connection to the TV or another source. If that is more than you want to spend then they make an SR10 without the optical in. Another option would be a Marantz surround sound receiver. At the entry level check out Onkyo and Yamaha models.

 

[backwoodscritter]

Thank you so very much for your quick response and excellent ideas!

I'd not taken into account, but should have, that surround sound receivers don't necessarily have separate sound controls (certainly not in my current budget anyway). I like your idea of using these Bose as "rear" speakers when I eventually add newer and better "front" ones.

Regarding a Bluetooth receiver, I don't know whether it would be a benefit given my set up will be as follows:

• 
  1. A projector (on its way) with a large projector screen;
  2. Screen-mirroring via iPad or iPhone through the projector;
  3. I have a Sony soundbar with BT sub which i will use for now for my sound.

In the meantime, the ports on the projector are limited to: 1 HDMI, 1 USB,1 VGA - There is no Optic port. (I readily admit I am lost as to how I will provide sound to the screen when I'm not using the screen-mirror function with the soundbar. That's another question for another post perhaps.)

I guess I'm not yet sure whether a Bluetooth receiver would be of any benefit or not. The flexibility would be nice should I find some really decent Bluetooth speakers later on. As you can tell, it's a mixed bag right now. If only, the Sony receiver had "lived"....LOL!

Onkyo and Yamaha - These are brands I've been eyeing already, so I'm with you on those for sure, and will look into Cambridge Audio today. My ultimate goal is to have decent audio for music and for movies. In other words: I want it ALL! I hate it when money IS the object.

Many thanks for the clear advice!