Small and satisfying. Please help me.

Warren:

I have never liked the sound that comes from the Bose cubes. A few alternatives to consider:

1. Small sphere sized speakers with a sub. Two companies that make products like these are Orb Audio and Gallo Acoustics. Orb Audio even offers their own version of HT in a box ($1000) that may be worth considering.

2. Use only two speakers and set up your DVD player to play in virtual surround mode. I have both my HT and bedroom systems set up this way and it is pretty effective. Dialog sounds like it is coming from the center and it allows me more freedom in my choice of speakers. My bedroom system is pretty modest and not visually obtrusive at all(a 20" SONY TV; a vintage Marantz receiver; a JVC DVD/CD player; and a pair of NHT SB2 monitors ... housed in an armoire sized bookcase 72" X 30" X 18").

Regards, Rich

With all due respect, anything besides Bose. I own Source Technologies - a very little known company out of Conn - and they have a couple of really good HT packages www.sourcetechspeakers.com
Also, Axiom audio has a couple of HT packages, and I would look at the pre-owned section of both Audiogon and Videogon to see what else is available.
Best of Luck

I'd really like to go the 5 channel route. I found the sound quite cool. The Bose system sounded nice, but I'm certainly not a Bose fan.

I checked out all the websites you've mentioned. I'm looking small and complete. An HT (5channel) system with DVD, amp, speakers, sub, the whole nine.