I hate to admit this, but the Acoustimass system actually performs better than it has a right to. And believe me, it really pains me to admit that. Getting a response down to under 300Hz that is only +/-5dB over most of it's range from a 2" driver is actually doing better than you might suspect. That's not to say that they really do sound "good", but as and engineering feat, it actually is somewhat remarkable. However, considering the drivers only cost them a buck or two, you would expect that the whole system wouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks.

The good news, though, is that there are a lot of options in the "mini speaker" category these days. I don't think anyone else has speakers as small as the Bose, but there are lots out there that are still small enough to not impose on the decor *much*. Plus, you get the benefit of higher fidelity and the potential for a lot more output.

Jason