Can someone educate me on home audio systems?

I have an old all-in-one stereo with a 3 cd changer. DH and I decided that we'd like to swap that for a CD changer and new speakers.

So I am not sure what I need- is there a difference between a speaker and an amplifier? I was looking at a player and a reviewer mentioned something about an amp, which confused me. We are actually interested in wireless speakers- are all players compatible with that or would I need a wireless compatible player?

Hope that made sense! If anyone wants to recommend a product that would be great.

Re: Can someone educate me on home audio systems?

ok... are you looking to get another all-in-one?
is this going to be used in a living room/theater? for surround sound?

an amplifier is used to increase volume. a speaker is what actually makes the audio feed audible...

i would suggest against wireless speakers, you can get interference from other wireless electronic devices.

Re: Can someone educate me on home audio systems?

Thanks for the wireless info- I didn't know that.

We don't want an all in one- we don't get great reception and can stream the one station we like online. We just want a changer with decent speakers. We're not really interested in the home theater thing.