Here's my product suggestion: The 1050mini A/V Receiver. This would be a scaled down version of the 1050 which I happen to own and love. The 1050mini would come in a form factor that is nine inches wide or less. Target would be locations where space is at a premium. Dorm room, secondary rooms in the house like a den, or at your work office. The closest thing I've seen would be the Teac AG-H350 Receiver but the price is too high.

Here's how I see things being laid out. Drop the power in half, from 65/channel to around 30/channel. Make it a 5.1 instead of 6.1.

Video: DVD and Video 1 only. Video 1 gets a REC OUT and PLAY IN, DVD gets PLAY IN. You would also have a MONITOR OUT. One each for the video in composite and s video. Digital Ins would remain the same, two optical, one coaxial.

Audio: AUX PLAY IN, TAPE REC OUT, TAPE REC IN, VIDEO 1 REC OUT, VIDEO 1 PLAY IN, DVD PLAY IN,

Preamp outs would be nice but not necessary.

Speakers: SUB/LFE OUT, Right, Center, Left, Right Surround, Left Surround.

If you can get build this for less than $250.00 your gold. The problem with most small systems out there is that speakers are crap. I want to pick my own speakers, not have them decided for me. Another group that would jump all over this is computer gamers. Right now a gamer has three choices when it comes to audio:

[*] Out of the sound card and into a standard receiver. You can then use some real speakers but with space at a premium it's not often practical.
[*] Out of the sound card and into a boom box. Horrible sound and just not worth it.
[*] Out of the sound card and into powered computer speakers. If you want the best your going to spend $400.00 for the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1's.

Now the ProMedia's aren't bad but I would much prefer the flexibility that a 1050mini Receiver and what ever speakers I want would give me.