Satellite speakers
The metal enclosures and larger drivers in the EMP satelites should give you better performance than the Athena Micras and they got a decent review from this site. However, once you add a sub, the EMPs are over twice the price.
If you go with the Athena's you might find yourself wanting to upgrade. The EMPs are as good as it gets from a sattelite speaker and you would need full size bookshelf speakers to get a performance upgrade.
With either system, definetely get the matching center channel.