I have been searching around for a while, trying to find out which speaker setup would be best for my needs. I haven't found the information I was looking for, so I decided to get a new thread going to gather some specific advice for my situation. I apoligize in advance if this gets long.

Here it goes...
For the past few years, my home theatre setup consisted of a Kenwood VR-409 Receiver, Mach Ones for mains, and Sony CR/SR 305's for center and surrounds. I was pleased with this setup and felt no need to upgrade. Each speaker had sound coming out and this seemed good enough.

Boxing day, I realized that the foam surrounds in my Mach Ones were rotted (what a kick in the head that was!). Anyway, I got in line early at Future Shop to pick up the Polk Audio RM6005 set that was on sale for $300 (half price). Got it hooked up and it sounded decent. That was when I started looking around the net for information and reviews about some speakers. I did check out some reviews on the Polk set before I bought them and they seemed good.

Now, I am concerned about the frequency hole I have in my sound (not that there may have not been one there before) because the satellites go down to around 150Hz or so and the sub (PSW10) is set to crossover around 90Hz or so (anything above that and I can pick out the sub). I am not getting the warm fuzzy feeling with the satellites.

I have been looking around for a decent bookshelf speaker set. The GF is happy to see the Mach One beasts go and enjoys the extra floor space. I've ordered a set of surrounds for the Mach Ones, and told her that they will be coming back, at which point, I got 'the look'! 'The look' wasn't as bad when I mentioned smaller bookshelf speakers, so that is what I am exploring now.

Sorry about the rambling, but it may help give you guys a better idea of my situation. Anyway, here are my questions. (Finally!)


Which of these speakers do you think would be the best value for my mains? I have a very tight budget and it will be very difficult to justify spending over $300 CDN for a set of speakers.

Athena AS-B1 -- $230 @ Future Shop
Athena AS-B2 -- $300 @ Future Shop
JBL E20/E30 -- $190/$250 @ Future Shop
Polk Audio R15 -- $200 @ Future Shop
Paradigm Atom -- $250 @ Wacky Wheatleys
Paradigm Titan -- $?? @ Wacky Wheatleys

I would like a speaker with a larger woofer (6" or more), but if something with a smaller woofer (5" for example) sounds better, then I'd go for that. I do have the PSW10 sub to help with the lower frequencies. I will also try to wait to see if any of the speakers go on sale at Future Shop. I've also considered trying to get the R15s for surrounds as well, if they go on sale cheap enough.

Another option would be to convince the GF that none of these speakers will sound as good as the Mach Ones. I may be able to put these back in service when/if I sucessfully get the surrounds replaced.

Thanks in advance for any advice/input and again, I apoligize for the novel!

(Added paragraph spacing to make it easier to read)