Firstly, let me say that the options you've chosen are all solid options. Nice job.
You know, Ascend offers a 5% break on the
Rythmik LV12R subwoofer if he buys the LCR from them. I think the price / performance ratio is probably better on the Rythmik, and I'd be inclined to audition that before the SVS. Any clue what the cubic footage of his HT room is?
You might also consider
WaveCrest Audio for the LCR, if you're looking for more options to confuse the situation. Or
Hsu Research and
XTZ Sound are both worth checking out within a similar price range as well.
Or as competition to the RBH (yep, it's RBH, not RHB) towers you chose, right now the JBL Studio 590's are on a steal of a sale for $450 each. Or you can bundle a pair with Harman Kardon AVR for a total of $1200. (
source) But the JBL Studio center channel options are all more expensive, which might be a deal breaker unless your friend wouldn't mind getting a disposable center now to upgrade later -- or go phantom center for now.
For the surrounds, if there's no choice but to use in-ceiling, then you might consider the
HTD HD-R65. It has +/- 3dB switches for both the tweeter and the woofer, which will offer a little more flexible timbre matching.
Just throwing out options you might not've seen.