Bic would be a good deal as well, the acoustech is a whole system including a 12" sub. You would have to caontact Bic America to find a Canadian distributor though.
You are right to state that taste in speakers and the sound they produce is subjective, but that doesn't mean that some speakers are sub par especially price wise. You don't always get what you pay for. The Entire Northridge line by JBL is substandard. SO are the Infinites sold by chain stores for that matter. They cut too many corners and yet thy kept the price high. Why would they do that? Because they can and it keeps the build price low and profits high. JBL has a name that almost everyone regards as high end, and they still make some of the best speakers in the world. They do not however sell them at Futureshop or Bestbuy. Why the change in quality? Because people will pay for the name, I know I did (shhh don't tell anyone). JBL is living off past glory IMO. You can plug in a pair of cheap 1990 JBL bookshelfs and go wow, I got more than I paid for. If you plug in your current JBL bookshelfs right now, like the E30 or whatever you will find yourself saying wow, I paid for more than I got.
Athena is made by a Canadian Speaker manufacturer that also produces Energy and Mirage speakers. Those are two well respected high quality to price ratio speakers. Athena is getting rave reviews and seems like the category killer pricewise in Canada. JBL and Infinity don't sell speakers at Futureshop or BB that can compete with an AS-F2 tower by Athena. Futureshop has some tricks up their sleeves to sell the JBLs Polks, and Infinities they have over these athenas. For example they will place the JBLs and others further apart and the Athenas close together. The further apart floorstanders will sound better because the have the advantage of better placement (placement is very important). Another thing to watch out for is the salespeople. Remember they are commisioned at futureshop. The odds are the only thing about speakers the salesman telling you JBL is better than Athena knows is that the commision on an $800 pair of speakers is higher than on a $500 pair. I don't know where in Ontario you live, but I was at the Whitby Futureshop yesterday, and they were closing out AS-F2's for $450 a pair. Also don't buy the extended warrany from FS, these speakers have a 5 yr. warranty. Make the salespeple give you a fair audition. Listen to the speakers the same distance apart, and with the same receivers, subs, etc.
I'm not telling you what to buy, only asking you not to waste your money on those JBL speakers, you can do much better for the price. If you can find a BIC retailer close to you then they are really worth a listen, supposed to be a fantastic deal for the dough.
Good luck.
