Small 5.0 on a budget. $250

$300 wont get you much if you buy new. i mean no insult here, but im sorry to say it just wont.

if you look into used (ebay, craigslist), you can probably get a lot more bang for your buck. or browse around on amazon, see what kind of deals they have.

you can find setups that use small bookshelf speakers that arent the "cubes" you mentioned that will still stay out of site (for the most part), and actaully give you much better sound. possibly look into polk audio?

example:
get two pairs of these http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Two...874447&sr=8-15
and one of these http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-Cen...5874540&sr=8-1

i know thats $300, not including shipping, but your budget is going to be tough.... unless you buy used

Agreed, 5.0 at that price is tough. If you can find Take-5 for $200 might want to grab it. Although, if you have a sub, five of the C100's would likely sound better.

Energy @ Vanns

http://cgi.ebay.com/Energy-Speakers-...3%3A1|294%3A50

Great for the price have it in bedroom.

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/s...&item=k1ht55ee
another cheaper selection MUCH better than bose and is a smaller cube kie speaker but also has a real sub.

http://www.wwstereo.com/#/ecommerce/...rs/33/144559//
For 400 dollars you cant beat this with a stick.

Why think big? If your center is a problem, replace just the center. Just get a center that will go with fronts you can get later, if you choose to. I bought an Axiom M2 four years ago to use as center (does fine with dialogue), and only now am I in the process of upgrading to matching fronts.

yeah the energy set seems to be the best bang-for-budget-buck around here

i guess i didnt mention that because you said you wanted smaller speakers....

whats your definition of small?