office acoustics

I'm campaigning to avoid getting cubes in our little 750 sq ft office with 5 people. I hate cubicles. I think they dampen the regular noise, and then you can really hear the phone conversations and irregular bodily functions of your co-workers.

Seems that there a million outfits that want to come in, do an analysis, then sell you a high dollar installation with emitters in your ceiling.

The only two off the shelf systems I could find:

$350 for a 500 sq ft space:
Speech Privacy Systems - Personal Sound Masking Solutions

$50 each (what they use in school counseling offices)
Marpac 980 Sound Screen

$400 solution from Merman Miller called babble, though it sounds like it might bug your office mates:(be sure to listen to the NPR piece which has sound clips)
http://www.dexigner.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2179
http://www.sonaretechnologies.com/Sonare3/products/Privacy.jsp
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4702851

If I were to have one installed by an acoustical contractor, this one looks pretty dang cool:
http://www.softdb.com/smartSMS-II-MainDescription.html