Surround sound help

Ok so I got these surround sound speakers. i know their cheap but i got it for only $50 shipped from ebay brand new. when installing it i just found out i need a receiver to get 5.1 surround sound, but for now can i get just 2 speakers working? i've tried stripping the wires and having it touch the metal but sound doesn't seem to sound to come out from the speakers, just the subwoofer. do i need a receiver in order to get sound or am i just doing something wrong with the wires?

I'm confused. What are you using for amplification?

the subwoofer, im a newb to this type of stuff lol

It's an active sub w/ passive sats, so you're going to have to provide your own amplification for the satellites.

If you have an old stereo amp you could wire up the mains to that and then split the signal to the receiver and the powered sub. That should do until you can spring for a multi channel amp/receiver. Just don't go wiring up a bunch of speakers to one channel, more speakers don't mean better sound and neophytes invariably wire things in parallel and present tiny loads to the amp. Things go pop this way.

do receivers come have an amplifier built in? if so can i get one thats around $150 or less?

Yes. You'll see a spec sheet like this one:

Power Rating Power (8ohms 20-20kHz 0.08%) /Ch: 75W

Ideally you'd like 5.1 or 7.1ch w/ pre-amp output for your passive sub so that you can control everything through your receiver.

alright thanks for all your help, i'll post back once i get everything fixed. so far im impressed with the bass in this system when it's set to almost minimum lol.