Audio Systems: saving money, sensitivity figures, stereo amplifiers

Question
I will be getting married in eleven weeks.  We feel that paying a DJ is a waste of money.  Our idea is to buy some kind of system that would be about $300, look good in our living room, and be loud enough to fill a 1300 sq. ft. room with 100 guests. We thought that burning songs we like on cd's and putting the cd player on random would be a good idea. Any advice on what we could buy for the occasion?

Answer
I do not make equipment recommendations; there are too many subjective factors involved.  But, there certainly are low cost products that are really quite good for the money.  Of course cd players are very cheap.  Burners are readily available on any PC - which you may already have.

Stereo amplifiers sufficient to drive a good crowd are available under $100.  But, you must make sure you have speakers with sufficient sensitivity.  When purchasing the speakers, look for sensitivity figures above 98db and you should be okey.  BUT: Stay away from packaged shelf or boombox systems as they will probably NOT be sufficient nor give good sound quality.

Hope this helps.

C