Need help choosing a center channel and surrounds

[Nunya]

I know virtually nothing about speakers, and I only watch TV or a movie maybe 2 or 3 times a month. I'm currently running THIS Jamo 5.1 set and although I've been happy with it I'd like to beef it up a bit. I've already got some floorstanders for the fronts but I'd like a new center and surrounds. Vann's is currently clearing out some Jamo gear I'm interested in but NE also has some good deals on Polk so I was hoping someone could steer me in the right direction. The speakers I'm looking at are:

Center:
Jamo E8CEN.2
Polk Audio CS1
Polk Audio CS10
Polk Audio CS2
Polk Audio CS20

Surrounds:
Jamo C401
Polk Audio Monitor30

I guess my question really comes down to which is better, Polk or Jamo, but Polk has so many centers in the same price range I don't know what to go with. FWIW I'll be sitting 6-8' away from the center channel. The 'regular price' on the Jamo speakers is more but I don't know if that really means anything. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[NutBucket]

What floorstanders did you get? You want to match your center to your fronts.

 

[Smoove910]

You want to match your center to your fronts.

+1 You need to try to match drivers across the soundstage, especially the fronts.

 

[Nunya]

I'll be using THESE. Right now I'm just using them for music but I'll be moving them to the HT setup.

 

[Auric]

CS2, since the others are either too small or in the case of the CS20 too much more costly to justify for essentially the same thing. Personally, I do not care for the partial glossy finish of the CS20. Full disclosure: I do haz a black CS2 and am pleased with it but would not recommend it only to justify my own decision, if you can dig it? Maybe there are other models equivalent to the CS2 to consider but I am not aware of any offering same bang for the buckaroo.

 

[SithSolo1]

Honestly none of the Jamo speakers will timbre match(this is important for smooth speaker transitions in a HT setup, more so in the front 3) but they'll probably be closer than the Polk speakers. I'd keep it all in the same brand at this point unless you want to start from scratch.

 

[Nunya]

Thanks for the info. Since the Jamo speakers won't match would I be better off going with the Polk and then later swapping the E680s for some Monitor50s or 60s?

 

[Smoove910]

CS1 + Monitor 60 = goodness!

 

[SithSolo1]

Thanks for the info. Since the Jamo speakers won't match would I be better off going with the Polk and then later swapping the E680s for some Monitor50s or 60s?

That would be the ideal solution.

As Smoove said a CS1 and Monitor 60s would work fine together.

The CS1 will timbre match the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. The CS2 matches the 70s. Timbre matching the surrounds is nice but not as important as the front 3 for movies.

You could also just run bookshelf speakers in your HT. A setup with say a CS1($64) + 40s($109, black pair) for the front and either 40s or 30s as surrounds would work just fine and give you bigger sound than your current setup for not a lot of cash.

 

[Nunya]

Thanks for the help, went with the Polks.