[cairns]

For God's sakes don't buy anything that says Bose on it. The only decent product they ever produced was the 901- some 35 years old now.

There's a reason they don't post their specifications and feature endorsements from newspapers (like their hometown and very paid off Boston Globe) instead of audio experts. There's also a reason they put money in a huge advertising budget rather than product.

If you're interested in something that costs about the same but offers far higher quality try a site like Audio Advisor (on the web) or your local stereo retailer. Don't go to Best Buy or Circuit City.

As a specific example, look at the products from Tivoli Audio, they are much higher in quality, offer different and more practical features (computer input, ipod connectivity, subwoofers, upfiring speakers), cost roughly the same (or less) and will sound much, much better for years to come.

My wife volunteers at a thrift store- they get a lot of Bose products that have broken or whose cheap paper cones have disintegrated. The last wave they had went for $150. It sounded like *****, the plastic was a dirty brown color and they couldn't clean the little lines which collected dust and goop.