When the show goes outside the studio, there's almost always a need for some kind of sound reinforcement, even if it's just for the off-air (or mock off-air) signal. A boom box is common, but has limitations and rarely fills the space. There's also an advantage to being able to talk directly to the crowd.

We looked at several systems, keeping portability in mind. These five systems are all compact enough to be hauled and set up by one person. Two of them offer battery-power options, which could be useful in some situations. One important accessory would be stands to elevate the speakers.

In all cases, we looked for units with at least one mic input and one line input. Adding a small tuner or a backhaul feed from a codec can provide the on-air feed. And with two line inputs, the studio mix-minus backhaul can be mixed with the local audio feed. An iPod dock might be handy for some.