The Campanion 5 system is 3 speakers and the Companion 2 has 2 speakers for $99 that sound with the usual Bose quality. To my "OK" ears they sound nearly the same, especially the bass. The Companion 2 are available now.

I own a bunch of Bose products: Bose Companion 3 and 5, Mediamates, Cinemate, Wave Music System, 201 Bookshelf speakers, Triport In Ear Headphones and Quietcomfort 2 Headphones. (I used to own the QC1 but exchanged them for QC2s). Apart from those, I own Klipsch Promedia 2.1. That lets you know I understand sound quite well, and have a very good brand to compare those Bose systems: Klipsch, which is THX Certified.

I thought these speakers would be good, so I ordered them about a month ago. I am sorry and I feel bad to say this, but I had to return these. If these are the best speakers Bose has come up with, I wonder why they are outperformed by every single one of the other systems I have, some of them costing just 1/4th or half of their price.

For their size, these speakers are good, also for their remote control and their looks, but that is where it ends. They are lacking way too much volume to be worth $400, the $100 Bose Mediamates (now the Bose Companion 2) sounds about as good, while going much louder than these and also offering a more spacious sound and dual RCA inputs. These speakers are also lacking a little on the lowest end of the sound. Apart from that, they have a very good balanced sound, but if you are going to listen to rap or hip hop with really deep bass, dont expect them to rattle or thump, and for $400 they should no matter how small they are. The Bose Companion 3 and Companion 5, both at $250 and $400 respectively, completely outperform these speakers, in spaciousness, clarity, deepness and resonance of bass, but most importantly, they sound nearly 3 times as loud. If you are going to compare to the cinemate just for $100 more, or the Bose 201 Bookshels speakers (paired with a good receiver) there is just NO comparison to make, they are outperformed in every single way. So my advice to you, as a Bose owner is the following: DO NOT BUY THESE SPEAKERS. These are completely overpriced and surely arent the best bose can make, considering the bose mediamates (only twice as big) were made in the 90s, and they sound just as good if not better, and louder than the Bose MusicMonitor, for 1/4th of the price. If these speakers were a replacement of the Mediamates and Companion 2, they would still need to sound just as loud as them to justify paying the $100 the Companion 2s are worth. DONT BUY THESE SPEAKERS! Let Bose know they have lost their mind and their focus with these! Go out and Buy Companion 3s, Cinemates, 321s or 201 Bookshlef speakers instead of this.. if you can afford the MusicMonitors, you would be buying much better sound with those products. However, if you are in need of space, or cant afford any of those but still want the sound of these MusicMonitors, just try to find the Bose Mediamates online or buy the Companion 2, you will be pleased with those and just for $100.

why would you complain about the bose system being to expensive when you have a heavily over price iMac sitting in between them...enlighten me

Thanks israelandsoon, exactly my impression, thanks for confirming it.