got a pair of speakers, what do I do now?

[chowderhead]

someone gave me a pair of KEF Q30 stand alone speakers. I don't have any cables or such ... just the speakers. I don't really need more than these two speakers so no 5.1 or 7.1 needed.
I want to connect the speakers to my television, DVD player and hopefully my ipod. What exactly do I need and what would you recommend? I am a audio/video noob, so help me out.

Would this receiver be an overkill?
What about cables?

 

[pennylane]

I originally started with a 2.0 speaker set-up. My friend convinced me that I should power it with a 5.1/7.1 receiver and not a 2-channel amp, because it would give me room to expand if I wanted to. I decided to go with a 7.1 receiver and I'm glad I did. Surround sound is great. Even if it was just for surround sound music, it'd be worth it.

So, if you think you may have any interest at all in adding surround sound later, you should consider getting a 7.1 receiver. That receiver looks pretty good, though it's not as future proof as other receivers are (no HDMI so it can't support multichannel uncompressed audio that you find on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD). Still, it's a good deal and it could be a good starting point for you. I think the reason that receiver is on sale is because Onkyo is about to come out with newer revisions of those models (going from x04 to x05).

For speaker cables, I use regular 12-gauge wire you can find at Home Depot or Lowe's.

 

[EvilYoda]

Someone just gave you a pair of Q30's? That's a damn good friend there. They me be a decade and some odd years old, but they're still great speakers...smallest towers they made in that line (the 50s and 70s were considerably better IMHO), but they are still great compared to a lot of the junk you see out there. I'm not a huge fan of the Uni-Q driver array myself, but they still make great speakers.

As for your next step, it's up to you depending on your intentions...those would be a great set for a 2-channel analog setup, but if you plan on going surround sound in the future, that Onkyo would be a cheap way to get into it. Personally...I'd spend a little time and money and pick up an old 2ch NAD or perhaps a used Adcom preamp and 2-ch amp. But that's just me...I went backwards from what most people are doing, 5.1->2.1 and I hardly ever have to regret that choice.

Enjoy!

 

[chowderhead]

thanks for the suggestions. And yes, it was very nice of him to give me those speakers. I am I am leaning towards that receiver and an ipod dock.
Any other suggestions?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

That receiver will work well, why an ipod dock though? You can just lay the ipod nearby and run a wire from the 1/8" port on it to an audio input on the receiver.