...but I think I might need new speakers.
I've had some reluctance to build up a 'real' home theater setup for various reasons - space and budget being the primary factors. I also figured that a good 2-channel setup would sound better than a low-budget home theater setup. In an effort to improve dialogue in movies and TV I finally bought a decent AVR recently (Yamaha RX-A6A). And since I've already got enough speakers I have been experimenting with what I have, even though they're not all the same brand/series. The results have been mixed. I'm not sure if I should continue to experiment with what I've got or if I should look into a set of matching speakers.
Here's what I've got:
Focal Chorus 836V Towers
Focal Chorus 706 V2 Bookshelf Speakers
Canton Vento 896 DC Towers
2x SVS SB-3000
I tried setting up the Focal towers as L/R with a Focal Bookshelf speaker as a center. That seemed to work, but depending on the content and settings the center speaker seemed too obvious - like a LOT of the volume had to be coming from that speaker. The Canton towers are acting as rear channels. Sometimes they're fine, sometimes I don't notice them at all and sometimes I really know they are there. Maybe that's appropriate depending on the content. This was all put through the YPAO setup too.
So should I continue to experiment with what I've got or should I switch to a speaker brand where I can get a matched set? I don't really want to hunt around on the used market to try to find decent versions of what I've got to cobble together a matched system - too much time and questionable quality that way. I think the subs are fine. I don't exactly have a budget in mind, but I'm kind of cheap. I want the speakers that sound and look like they're $10k-20k but cost $3k-5k (for a pair). Don't we all? What would you do?