I can only speak from my experience. I have the popular bic 62clr Center speaker, and for my rears surrounds I have the Athena AS-R1's. In my honest opinion they both sound GREAT. It is very hard for me to recommend one over the other. The tweaters in both sets are amazing. In your setup since you are going to be without a sub for a while, I would say that you definitely couldn't go wrong with the Bic's. For the money, they are a real bargain. I am currently in the market for a replacement for my front left and right mains, and I am divided between the Bics or the Athena. I will probably choose the Bic's just because of their price point. I hope this helps.
p.s. I would also have to say that the build quality on the Athena's is slightly better when comparing to the Bic's
