You friend can't have his cake and eat it.
He will not achieve anything even remotely approaching a party hard sound level with satellite speakers....
Small satellite speakers definitely vary in quality and SPL output from manufacturer to manufacturer,however, they remain fundamentally near-field small speakers that will never play loud with any degree of accuracy....let alone at levels necessary to please a packed room of dancing party-goers. Satellite speakers are ideal for distributed low level sound without ugly imposing boxes that attract attention....they can sound very nice and make an ideal choice for many home systems in small rooms and have the highest WAF factor.
The only complete solution for your friends described problem, would be to get some bigger boxes. 12" base woofers are probably a minimum required with 15" being preferable....this means big ugly speakers.
If your friend is happy with bose (just unhappy about the SPL levels), then you can probably find a pair of efficient big box speakers for around $1500 or less that will more than meet occiasional basement party needs. Remember the "boxier" and larger the speaker the more likely you are to get an extended base response and SPL levels necessary to please a "party hard" crowd.
A word of caution, avoid the next best WAF factor speakers: the very popular tall narrow speaker designs with small (6" or smaller) base drivers. Whilst tall narrow designs can perform extremely well for individual listening and are very estheticly pleasing, these designs necessarily compromise base performance at high SPL's in order to achieve the nice tall shapely design. (if you friend doesn't believe this, head to the dealer and simply take the grill off just about any 6" base woofer cone and watch the antics/high excursions at high SPL levels).
He will not achieve anything even remotely approaching a party hard sound level with satellite speakers....
Small satellite speakers definitely vary in quality and SPL output from manufacturer to manufacturer,however, they remain fundamentally near-field small speakers that will never play loud with any degree of accuracy....let alone at levels necessary to please a packed room of dancing party-goers. Satellite speakers are ideal for distributed low level sound without ugly imposing boxes that attract attention....they can sound very nice and make an ideal choice for many home systems in small rooms and have the highest WAF factor.
The only complete solution for your friends described problem, would be to get some bigger boxes. 12" base woofers are probably a minimum required with 15" being preferable....this means big ugly speakers.
If your friend is happy with bose (just unhappy about the SPL levels), then you can probably find a pair of efficient big box speakers for around $1500 or less that will more than meet occiasional basement party needs. Remember the "boxier" and larger the speaker the more likely you are to get an extended base response and SPL levels necessary to please a "party hard" crowd.
A word of caution, avoid the next best WAF factor speakers: the very popular tall narrow speaker designs with small (6" or smaller) base drivers. Whilst tall narrow designs can perform extremely well for individual listening and are very estheticly pleasing, these designs necessarily compromise base performance at high SPL's in order to achieve the nice tall shapely design. (if you friend doesn't believe this, head to the dealer and simply take the grill off just about any 6" base woofer cone and watch the antics/high excursions at high SPL levels).