Good small form-factor satellites?

Alright.  I had a set of Bose speakers and was trying to re-use them with a home receiver but was ridiculed by the home audio community.  apparently bose is taboo in these parts. 

fair enough.... but i have a need for very small satellite speakers.  what are my options out there?  My searches in the local audio stores and online have yielded little in the way of very small form-factor speakers with nice quality sound.

I don't want to spend a thousand dollars on speakers either, so a nice middle-ground option would be great.  I appreciate nice sound, but i don't have the ear to differentiate the best from the mid-grade stuff.  i'm also not much of a brand or audio snob, so i won't be picky on brand or anything like that.

my requirements are small, and sound good.  not looking for surround sound, just going to run two sets of speakers in two rooms, both sets will be fronts only, and will be powered off a sony home receiver pushing around 70watts/channel.  Used is ok, in fact i'd almost prefer used since this isn't a sound studio or anything.

thanks guys.  :)

You'll have to define hxwxd for what you consider small enough to meet your requirements.

Small sats will require a subwoofer for the bass, you'll also have to specify how big you are willing to go with that.

Plus a max budget for the whole thing.

thanks for the reply!

this install is going into a RV.... it has two living "areas" and will be using satellites just to pump some music through to each room on a speaker selector box.  I have all the components already, and a set of old used bose single-cube speakers from my parents that i "inherited" for free.  i was going to use them but have been given enough grief by people to look elsewhere.

i have a velodyne subwoofer for the low frequencies already.  I don't necessarily have a h/w/d requirement per se, but i have very little real estate and the cubes were perfect for remote/hidden mounting.  I want them to be as least obtrusive as possible.  I have a set of sony satellites that were about twice the size as the bose cubes, but they are too big.  When i say small, i mean small.  ;)

budget?  i don't want to spend more than $300, which is why i said used is preferred.

i don't want to go all-out as this is for a RV, as it is not for audiophiles and discrete is the key.  the bose cubes were free and fit the size requirements, which is why i was going to use them.  i'll admit i'm not an audiophile to the degree you guys are, but i appreciate good sound.  I thought the bose cubes sounded fine for my needs with the parent's acoustimas system, and i realize i will be slammed for saying that....  but i do trust the general opinions here and am interested in hearing about/seeing good alternatives.

show me the way!  :)

i've been searching online and have seen things....  what do you guys think about the Hsu Ventriloquist VT-12 speakers? 

Boston Acoustics HS 40, 8.87x6.5x5.9.  $46 each at Onecall
Boston soundware cubes, 6x6x6.5, $80 each.
Energy C-50, 8.75x 5.75 x 8. $85/pair audioadvisor
Energy take 5 classic, 6.875x 4.125 x 4.125.  $200 a set from a bunch of places, you'd have an extraneous center channel.

Or are these still too big?  If you need something as small as a Bose single cube, you might as well use the Bose single cubes. There are practical limits to how small you can go with still good quality sound.

understood, and i appreciate the input!

regarding the bose cubes - the appeal was the form factor.  and i did *not* buy these new, so no i'm not falling for any bose marketing whatnot.  however, they use a different connector (single RCA) on the back, and i'm worried about the power the receiver makes will blow/overpower them.

anything over 6" tall would be too big, honestly. I'm going to check out your suggestions and see if they would work.  i also found Orb Audio satellites:

http://www.orbaudio.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=6

thoughts?

When I answered your question in the Beginner section, I explained that Bose speakers aren't as high a quality speaker that you think.  Also without the bass module you risk destroying the little satellite speakers.  I also answered your question as asked.

-Robert

appreciated your reply, but that's not really what i'm asking in *this* thread (hence why there is a different thread)....   please understand that i'm not asking for anyone's opinion on Bose in this thread. 

this thread isn't about whether i can use the bose or not - that was the other thread you answered in.  this thread is asking what the alternatives are.  i appreciate your help in the other thread, but care to help with my question here?  i thank you in advance
Edited by ABTsportsline - 8/4/2009 at 08:05 pm GMT

Edited by ABTsportsline - 8/4/2009 at 08:06 pm GMT

 these new or other csw sats on ebay.  kef and mirage make nice little sats too but probably out of your price range unless used.

thanks!

those cambridges are actually perfect for my application (form-factor-wise).  i appreciate the input, i'll take a serious look at those.  :)

cheers!