Need speakers for my Macbook: questions I've not seen an answer for

Question

Earlier this year I reluctantly upgraded from my old Luxo Jr. style iMac with the nice 17" screen and the really good sound to a 2008 black Macbook. While I needed the OS update, the smaller screen and miserable sound are a giant step backwards, and need a cure. I think I've found a monitor I can love (Samsung 2223SW) but the speaker issue has me boggled. I've now read so much I'm thoroughly confused.
Does my old iMac sound so good solely due to the speakers, or is there something in the iMac itself contributing to the sound?
Am I stuck with miserable tinny sound due to some limitation of the Macbook, or is there hope?
The goal: good sound and no wires on my desktop (I'm fed up with looking like an electronics store run amok, and so far have banished the modem and external drive to the basement courtesy of an Airport Extreme)
In an ideal world I'd find a pair of wireless speakers (either wifi or bluetooth) that sound as good as my old iMac speakers. I've searched with no luck... are there any?
The next best thing seems to be using an Airport Express (I realize I cannot use my existing Extreme for speakers) but I'm not sure I'm clear on how that would work. I'd have to have it plugged in the room I want to use the speakers in, and then plug the speakers into the Express? I'm still stuck with wires but at least they're not snaking across the desktop that way.
The Macbook would send the sound to the Express and in turn through the speakers? Is that how it works?
And I have to use Airfoil if I want to have all my sound - not just iTunes - channeled that way?
Does it matter if my iTunes library is on an external hard drive and not on the internal Macbook drive?
Anything else I need to know? I don't have a traditional stereo for the Express to stream to (which I see mentioned a lot), is that a problem? I just need speakers. I also don't need to stream to multiple rooms or Macs... just cure the sound on the Macbook.
Could the old iMac speakers be plugged into the Express?
Or do I need to get new ones such as the Creative Inspire T12 that are in the Apple Store? I've noticed those and some others say they come with a power supply... does that mean they need electricity (bleah... more wires!) ? I guess that would beat batteries, but I'm used to speakers that plug into whatever they're hooked to and nothing else , so the reference to "power supply" may be confusing me. Do you really have to plug in speakers to an outlet?
A lot of questions, I know! I've read the "Good To Know About Speakers" page in the Apple Store, searched threads here and Googled, and only seemed to wind up with more questions. :P

Answer 1

Thanks Doc.... that does clear a few things up. I can't find wi-fi speakers to check prices though. My search returns seem to be mostly links to pages where people are asking where to find them (lol!), those crazy-price Phillipe Somebodyorother designer speakers, or some called Oyster from Avega that seem to be vaporware
I did find wireless speakers on Amazon, but they're not what I think of as wi-fi (using the Macbook's already-installed Airport) since you have to plug a transmitter into the computer (which makes it Yet Another Device To Be Unplugged when moving a laptop around).
It's beginning to sound like the Express + speakers is the best route, since that at least gets the wires off the desktop and not directly attached to the Macbook. I'm not sure what the plug on the iMac speakers is called. It would be nice if they worked since they don't require being plugged into the wall.