Gary,
1st of all, Bose speakers have a unilateral pricing policy. You can go to any authorized retailer and find them at the same price. 2nd of all, the Energy system is a good system, Energy makes some fine speakers. As a matter of fact, I have the Veritas. What the Energy's can't do is what the Bose excels at. The speakers are more than 3x's smaller, comes in white which makes them virtually transparent, and has a main unit that has a CD, tuner, and Dolby Digital processor built right in. Plus, the remote has only 15 buttons on it! Try doing that with any of your receivers. The Bose system is not for people who read Home Theater mags or write in forums about what speakers and stuff to get. They are usually people who have money and want something quick, EASY, and out of the way. They don't want anything complicated and huge! I have a very huge system in my main theater, but i have a Bose Lifestyle 30 Series II in my bedroom. A perfect solution without going to a separate receiver and cd player.
Harlon, the reason why they don't post specs is because someone who is really interested in a Bose system is not worried about specs. There are a lot of different things out there that don't post specs. When you look at a Bang and Olufsen piece, is the 1st thing on your mind is the specs??? How bout a work of art?? Or the new Beetle when it 1st came out???

John