Choice of surrounds for Boston Acoustics VR-M50s

[BAlove]

I have 2 pair of front speakers: 1pr Boston Acoustics VR-M50s and 1pr Energy e:XL-26s. I bought the Energys off craigslist before I ran across the BAs on ebay while on vacation far from home and picked them up and flew them home in my suitcase LOL (I've wanted a pair ever since I heard them at a friends house years back).
Currently I only have the BAs hooked up with a Polk center channel.

I want to upgrade to 7.1 (on a modest budget ~$500) by adding 4 surround speakers and a sub. Though honestly I'm pretty darn content with the bass put out by the BAs with no sub!

Option A:
Buy Energy Take Classic 5.1 (cnet editors choice). In this case I would replace the Polk center with the Energy center. Would these speakers be mismatched with my BA VR-M50s? The Cnet reviewer raves about the match between this sub and surrounds.

Option B
Buy Polk OWM3s (4) and PSW110/125. Would these work better with my BAs or my Energys? These Polks look like they could be discretely mounted which is a bonus for the wife.

Option C (which my wife loves - since we might move our TV to a different wall someday)
Sell the BAs and the Energys and get a Polk Soundbar50 or Definitive Tech Mythos SSA-50.

Thanks for any advice you can give,
BALove

amp - Pioneer VSX-919ah-k

[Woochifer]

Don't worry about 7.1 until you get a properly matched 5.1 setup first. Given that you already have a pair of speakers (albeit nonmatching) that you can use as surrounds (use the Energy speakers), I would go with the subwoofer. Even if those Bostons put out decent bass, that extra lower octave that a subwoofer provides gives an entirely new dimension to your listening once you set the thing up properly.

The Boston VR-M series is a huge step in sound quality compared to the low end Energys and Polks you've referenced. Since you're already comfortable buying used gear, you should look into buying another pair of VR-M bookshelf sheakers and try to find the matching center speaker. That will give you a matching set. The rest of the challenge is setting everything up properly (the alignment, delay, subwoofer placement, etc.).

More than anything else, your room will dictate whether or not you can/should go with a 7.1 setup. The two back surround speakers should be installed ONLY if you have a fair amount of space behind the listening position. If your sofa is pushed up against the back wall, forget about 7.1 -- you don't have the space, and improperly aligned back surround speakers will make things sound worse and lighten up your wallet in the process.