Audiophile "PA" System??


Here is a new idea:

Health and fitness for me is discipline that goes in and out of favour, but when I do work out, I really enjoy listening to music.

In general, the iPod has been a breakthrough device for this application, but I find headphones a bit fatiguing and claustrophobic.

So I am wondering if I were to set up a small gym at home, what type of system would be reasonably priced, robust enough to withstand a bit of sweat and vibration, and be able to play loudly and sometimes over the din of exercise machines.

Of course, at the same time sounding as sweet and musical as possible and having decent bass response. Can't go jogging to baroque chamber music.

Any thoughts?
cwlondon
If you are setting up a gym, why not add to the construction and put in a bunch of ceiling speakers? One nice amp/receiver with a 6-12 speaker selector (Niles?) would do great. You could have a built in sub to handle all of the bass. It may save you from blasting to hear what you want. You could just keep a cheapo remote with you to hang on the equipment and adjust things as you go. This would eliminate a lot of problems, ie working out directly in front of one channel and not hearing the other.
I have a mackie sa1521 powered speaker ($850, 15"+horn) that I recently used as a stereo (using a mackie mixer - you can find these for $150 - as pre) while my 'real' stereo was being worked on and it sounded amazingly good. Way better than their ubiquitous 12" speaker model that all the djs use.
I have been using a pair of Bose 402 (Basic) loudspeakers for almost 10 years. They are amazing! Lightweight for portability (1 carrier case holds both at 28lbs total if I remember right). 4 4" speakers in each cabinet rated to 300W. Crystal clear and clean PA speakers

Their newer Extended 402 model has the matching Panaray MB4 Bass Loudspeaker.