It sounds like you've got a pretty good grasp on things and are asking the right questions. I'm going to assume that we are talking about stereo only just to keep things simple(er). Here is I think the easiest way to think about it. A receiver is three components in one box, for space and or economic reasons:

1. Tuner-Used for tuning in radio stations
2. Preamplifier-Switches between the various source components (CD player, Tape, VCR, Sat/Cable box, etc. Note turntables require a phono stage. Some preamps don't have these but you can get them as a separate component.) It also controls volume.
3. Power amplifier-The component is responsible for powering speakers. Amplifiers can be stereo (Capable of running 2 speakers) or mono (Capable of running 1 speaker so 2 are required for stereo.) The benefit of monoblock amps is that since they share NO parts there is ZERO crosstalk (bleeding of left into right and right into left.) This separateness usually manifests itself as a wider, deeper, and generally more holographic soundstage. Also because of each speaker has it's own amp there may be benefits in dynamics to be had as well.

Stereo and mono amps can be single ended (using RCA) or Balanced (using XLR). Balanced designs use the XLR connector which has 3 pins. One pin is the signal, the other pin is the exact inverse of the signal, and the third is ground. Any signal that is common to the signal and inverse pin is not part of the original signal and is rejected as noise. To properly enact a balanced design nearly doubles the price of the component because every resister, capacitor, circuit board trace and wire must be duplicated. Balanced components generally have a

http://www.stereophile.com/reference/50/index.html

http://www.cardinalproaudio.com/main/terms.htm

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/audioterminology.htm#S

http://eli47.tripod.com/audiogloss.html

http://diyaudiocorner.tripod.com/def.htm

http://lp2cd.com/audio_terms/a/index.html

http://www.audiovideoexperience.com/definitions.htm

http://sound.westhost.com/site-map.htm

Wow, thanks for the links, Jan! I've clicked on a few of those & I could have used that education earlier...

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