Jonathan, your comment that "he likes bass" indicates that it'd be very tough to come up with something really satisfactory within the $500 Cdn limit that he set. The M1s are very nice above about 100Hz in a small to medium room(see bigjohn's report in "Little A This..."in Questions)but used alone they almost certainly wouldn't satisfy him in the bass. Even bigger speakers like the AS-B1s might not do it alone. I'd suggest considering the M1s plus an inexpensive sub in the $150Cdn area, such as the highly-praised in that price range
Dayton sub. Combine that with an HT receiver to allow possible future expansion and provide bass management that a two channel amp wouldn't do. For example, this
Denon 484 refurb. With shipping, etc, this does run a little over his limit, but certainly he would get far more enjoyment than with a minisystem.
