Don't overlook Behringer. their quality has come a long way, and their new stuff is great value for the money. they make a neat powered 12" speaker with I think 450 watts and great sound for a street price of $199 each. Put that together with one of a number of unpowered mixers from Behringer or Alesis, and you've got a pretty nifty little system for around $750 or so. If you need monitoring, Roland makes a monitor cube that mounts on a mike stand (30 watts, 3 channel mixer, 10"/side) that delivers amazing sound. I use mine as a PA for smallish rooms. $175 or so.

Sandy