Should I keep my current center and surround speakers?

[zoiks]

I just bought the TST2 speakers from TSC and since I primarily watch movies, I'm sure these will be adequate. Currently I have the Athena .5 bookshelf speakers that I'm using with my setup. This is what I have currently.

Athena 0.5 speaker set.
http://www.athenaspeakers.com/products/point-5-series/

Velodyne DLS-4000R subwoofer.
http://www.amazon.com/Velodyne-DLS-4.../dp/B0006GIBFE

Speakers I just bought.
TST2
http://www.thespeakercompany.com/TST2-High-Performance-3-way-Tower-Speaker-Pair-P74C8.aspx

Now the question is whether I should keep the Athena speakers or not. They seem to be well made and do function nicely for their size. I would like to at least keep the center since it sounds pretty good but I haven't heard other center speakers so I have no way to compare. I currently use an Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver.
Any ideas? Or should I use these as well and create a 7.1 setup? I do have to say that aesthetically the silver on the piano black really looks crappy on the Athenas. If I end up keeping these, I probably will paint these black.

 

[vi edit]

Ideally you'd want the center to be timbre matched to your mains. Not as much of a deal for the rears/surrounds. I'd eak out the extra $60 and grab the TCT2 center from tSc.

http://www.thespeakercompany.com/TC2-Center-Channel-Speaker-P47C13.aspx

If you don't like it you can always return it for free. So it's really no risk.

 

[zoiks]

Ideally you'd want the center to be timbre matched to your mains. Not as much of a deal for the rears/surrounds. I'd eak out the extra $60 and grab the TCT2 center from tSc.

http://www.thespeakercompany.com/TC2-Center-Channel-Speaker-P47C13.aspx

If you don't like it you can always return it for free. So it's really no risk.

Sounds like a good idea. But then I'd rather change the rears as well and sell off the point 5's.

 

[vi edit]

Well, if you're going that route then go ahead and grab the dipoles from tSc for $101 a pair. I've got them and they are pretty damn nice for ~ $100 shipped.

They are my first pair of dipole and I couldn't go back to a direct radiating surround speaker again. I love how they disperse the sound and eliminate sound localization.

 

[zoiks]

Well, if you're going that route then go ahead and grab the dipoles from tSc for $101 a pair. I've got them and they are pretty damn nice for ~ $100 shipped.

They are my first pair of dipole and I couldn't go back to a direct radiating surround speaker again. I love how they disperse the sound and eliminate sound localization.

Hmmm. These are tempting however my sofa is against the wall. If I were to place these on the wall above the sofa against the sides, that wouldn't be an ideal configuration, would it?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Having the seating right up against the wall makes placement of surround / rear speakers tricky. It also will make your bass sound lousy due to being right at the back of the room.

Is there a chance for moving the seating away from the back wall?

Dolby has guides about speaker placement for 5.1 and 7.1 configurations.
http://www.dolby.com/index.html