Confused: stereo receiver or avr

As I wait for my Sierra speakers, I am planning my other gear and am confused and would appreciate some help.

My primary use case is movies and music 70/30. With good speakers, music might go up. I am not interested in surround sound. I don't have a ton of devices connected to the TV -- just PS4. I want to get to 2.0 with the Sierra speakers and eventually add a sub.

With this minimal setup, is there any benefit to getting an AVR which seems to be an overkill? My TV also has a bunch of HDMI inputs -- so even if I want to add more devices other than PS4 to it, TV can support the switching. So is there any value for AVR?

Can I make do with a stereo receiver? Or integrated stereo receiver? (Now I wonder if they are the same thing).

Thanks in advance.

Questions:
1. Do you wish to watch TV/DVD's/games with the Sierra's for the sound?
2. What is you source for music?

1. Yes. I want Sierras to replace the TV speakers.

2. The source of music will be mostly streaming from sources like Spotify, Youtube Music.

2a. I have CDs that I use in car but haven't gotten anything to play on speakers yet. I also have an old collection of cassettes. I haven't even researched this but if there is a way to get the sound on speakers, that will be great but that is a lower priority since most of them are available on online sources.

If you are integrating a sub I’d go with an avr. I’m not too familiar with integrated amps but not all of them have bass management.

I’d go with something like a Denon 3500. They are on close out pricing right now and would offer good room correction for a sub and obviously bass management as well. Only $550.

If you ever decide to run a 3.1 or 3.2 the avr would also be a better choice. For movies I prefer a center. My Horizon was a game changer.

I would go with a stereo receiver. Mine is Onkyo. I use it to play music that I download from Tidal with a Tidal converter. Working seamlessly.

I think either option would be fine. I wouldn't worry about unused channels. 5, 7, and 9 channel receivers are very popular and probably have the best features for the money spent. Nicer 2 channel amps are more of a specialty item and are priced the same or higher.

I was in the same situation as you, just wanted a 2.0 system and so I purchased an Integrated amp with a built in dac, this way you can hook up your tv to it.
I have a Cambridge Audio CX A80 hooked to my tv running Ascend Sierra 1nrt speakers and dual Svs SB 2000 subs.
The integrated doesn't have bass management that an Avr would give you, but this setup works tremendously well.

As the OP is only using 2 channels, I would put serious consideration to picking an external DAC. You can expect a noticeable sound quality improvement compared to using a receiver. The main drawback unlike choosing a receiver is the necessity of needing amplifiers, which an external DAC doesn’t come with. In the case of a stereo system either a stereo amplifier or 2 mono block amplifiers will work.

As far as using a subwoofer you can connect it to an RCA output on the DAC, and use the DACs balanced XLR outputs to the amplifiers XLR inputs to your speakers. If not using a subwoofer, you can use either the DACs RCA or XLR outputs to your amplifiers inputs. It’s better to use XLR if you have the option to for your speakers. If you go balanced, your speakers can enjoy the benefits of XLR interconnects.

I personally have foregone using subwoofers tho due to their degradation of sound. They only sound good at lower frequencies, the Sierra-2s also go low enough to negate the need for subs when run full range. Unfortunately the rumble of a sub below that point is more distracting to me than not, so yeah.

Hopefully this made sense.