I definitely recommend Bose. You can hear them from quite a long way away, without it being too bass-ey. You can use CDs, cassettes and mp3 players with them, adjust the bass and trebble, and they have battery packs and outlet converters. You can run them on batteries (it takes a whole pack of D batteries), from your car, or in a regular plug.
They are extremely versatile, with high sounds quality. The only downside is that they're quite heavy. But they have carrying cases with handles, so it makes it a little easier.
I haven't tried anything else, but I haven't even had a need to, so that speaks for itself, I suppose. :P

Our Fender portable 250 was awesome! We have a 500 now, but it is for bigger and better things. The 250 was totally sufficient for normal belly dance performance purposes, and it all closed up into a nice neat carrying case (heavy, but not too terrible ((the 500 is much heavier))) - much louder than my Bose. It requires a power source, can't run on batteries unlike the Bose. Also comes with a mic and inputs for additional speakers if the venue calls for them. You have to buy speaker stands along with it, but some models come with built in CD players.
www.amazon.com/exec/obido...veda8741-20

bellydancebiz.tribe.net/thread...b31f6ae

Thank you all very much for your recommendations. And the link to the previous thread - lots of good info.