Amplifier The amplifier sits between your audio sources (CD player/tuner/MP3 player) and your speakers, boosting their low-level audio signals and delivering the output to your speakers. An integrated amplifier – the most common type – contains both a pre-amp (which switches between sources and adjust volume) and a power amp (the amplifier responsible for delivering the final, boosted signal to the speakers). You can also buy separate pre and power amplifiers, for enhanced performance/versatility.

Bookshelf speakers Despite the name these compact speakers are usually designed for wall or stand-mounting – bookshelves are rarely ideal locations for speakers!

CD player Funnily enough, this is the component responsible for playing CDs! Most modern players can also now handle MP3s and Sevenoaks stocks a huge range.

DAB Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is the name of the standard for digital radio. Most modern tuners and systems offer DAB reception capability and the number of stations available on DAB is growing by the day.

Dock A generic term for a device which allows you to hook up an MP3 player to an audio/AV system or component, so that you can hear your tunes through full-size loudspeakers.

Floorstanding speakers Usually designed to be used in medium to larger rooms. The term also encompasses subwoofers (speakers specifically designed to reproduce lower bass frequencies).

Tuner A source component which receives radio broadcasts. This can be either DAB radio, analogue radio (AM/FM etc.) or both, in which case it’s referred to as a hybrid tuner.