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For the small venues like nursing homes I use Logitechs similar to these:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-980-00040...rs+for+computerRemember that in a nursing home you will not need great volume to compete with chatting, knife-and-fork noises and other audio interference. These have plenty of power for something the size of a large living room. They do something very nice with vocals, and handle the full range of Biab instruments cleanly and in stereo. The tweeters are small enough that I can usually place them in a way that makes them nearly invisible. The whole thing fits in one milk crate, including a mixer like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PYD6070-6-Cha...6+channel+mixer (...many companies make mixers on this scale.)
Actually I use one of these for roll-in and roll-out:
http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Extendabl...=rolling+crate.If you can afford the Bose, go get 'em. If not, try these. Try Craigslist while you are at it