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Muzx XY earbuds are absolutely the best i've heard for the price. (under 20$) I am currently sitting in front of 20k$ in sound gear at my personal desk, if your wondering about my credentials. http://www.alteclansing.com/ae/us/headphones/muzx+reg-xy-mzx126w/invt/mzx126w/

the number of speakers are irrelevant to quality of music. let me briefly explain :

you need different ranges assigned to different speakers that can give out that frequencies. but, there has to be more of the same speakers assigned to a particular frequency range - lets say, you got a certain size of tweeter. if there are 4 of this, and you divide a small incremental range of high frequency sound to four of these in small increments, you'll have, say, seperated two sopranos' (each soprano will have differences in their frequencies, even if minute and hardly identifiable by human ear) voices to two tweeters of the SAME kind, but while playing these two sopranos' voices, each of their voices will come from the different tweeters. this will increase the distinctiveness of each sound. here, the quality of the tweeters matter VERY much.

just like tweeters, if you have many mid range speakers to assign incremental frequencies, the clarity of sound will increase.

people generally err in that if there are 5.1 speakers, or 7.1, you can do more of that, because there are more speakers - that is not the case. in almost all 4.1 and more speaker systems, the satellite speakers generally come with the same size, therefore being able to effect efficient and clear playback of a certain frequency range. whereas it is good for positioning through different channels through software, it is bad for music quality and sound clarity - because you will have to play a broader frequency range from that speakers.

also, positioning does not matter much when playing music - think - how many times were you able to sit in the middle of a symphony orchestra, or a rock band in concert, and listen to music ?

not only you cant, but also it doesnt make any sense - human ears are directional - you wont be able to hear the sounds coming from the back as distinctively and clearly as the ones coming from an angle from the front.

that is why all music concerts, gigs, playback and whatnot are done in front of the audience.

a stereo setup correctly reproduces that positioning. ie - your hearing field is like a letter 'V' while listening to a concert, your head, field of hearing starting from the bottom end of the V, and the arrayed speakers of the concert setup being placed in upper tips of the V.

in concerts array speakers are used. if you paid attention, there are a lot of speakers positioned in the same place to the right, and left of the stage, on top of each other. this creates a sound stage that encompasses you.

this concept was a niche concept in which only audiophiles knew and were able to use. because mainstream stereo producers were just skipping by it. we didnt have any chance of listening to such stuff on a pc speaker set at all. however altec lansing made a good entry with such a product a while ago, and it changed the way all the speaker system producers designed the speaker sets. see altec lansing fx 6021 here : http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=fx6021 notice the 'in concert' technology, and notice how similar speakers are arrayed on top of each other. Read people's thoughts on this thing here : http://www.amazon.com/Altec-Lansing-FX6021-Speaker-System/dp/B0001EMLXE

this thing, is supposedly a pc speaker set. it should be nothing significant. but, when i bought this, it totally ousted my full deck pioneer stereo with $700 speakers each. i stopped listening to anything else.

one of my friends took this choice lightly, and went for a X.1 system from a known manufacturer, but after a while he decided to get the 6021, but he wasnt able to get one because it was out of stock. he is still looking for one since then, and its on the top of his list. he spends $350 on motherboards alone, when doing an upgrade.

Dunno, I always thought the Aquos line sucked ass -- muddy colors and dim output. I bought a 42" Panasonic plasma, mounted it on the wall and have enjoyed the hell out of it (coupled with a nice receiver and appropriate speakers). I also just bought a 32" Polaroid LCD and there's no comparison -- the contrast ratios and color levels are nowhere near the same. Of course, the LCD cost about half what the plasma did (I wouldn't have bought it otherwise), but it's easily half the set.

<rant>What's the big deal about plasma "burn-in"? You turn on the set, watch whatever, then turn it off. What are you people doing with your sets that would burn them in? Is this an issue with video games? I know my plasma had some kind of new feature that was supposed to "practically eliminate" (for whatever that's worth) burn-in. I can understand how you might have an issue in a commercial environment if you just display a logo or play a looped recording for sixteen or eighteen hours a day, but what's the big deal on a home set? </rant>

This is a joke, right? Mod funny? Because there are no end to iPod speaker accessories. None.

I stopped by the Mac store to buy the Altec Lansing inMotion speakers after reading a good review of them. They had the the JBL OnStage and it has better bass and nicer controls. The donut shape seems to fill a room better than the flat inMotion speakers. It synchs and charges newer iPods and will accept output from a headphone jack. I'd rate it higher than my Harman Kardon soundsticks and it takes up way less room.

I'm pretty happy with the inMotion speakers that I got as a birthday present. While they are on the pricey side, the sound is impressive (especially) for such a small package. They don't take up much room, they charge/sync, and they accept line in and headphones out. However, their big advantage is portability - they collapse to a small size, come with a soft case and are battery-operated. I've taken them on canoe trips, to bbqs and on the road. The rest of the time they take up a small amount of room on my dresser.
If you're never going to move the speakers you might want something else, but in terms of sound quality/ruggedness/portability they are tough to beat.

They're a 3-piece set, two very small satellites (approx 3x3x3 inches) and a subwoofer (approx 10x6x6).

They have more than enough power too!