I am building a house and have the ability to create the perfect room. I am going to upgrade my speakers but already have Klipsch R-26F fronts but am upgrading them to the 280s. I also need to get new surround rears. Would using my R-26Fs for rears be ok and should I get an amp to push the new 280s?
There was a time that I believed the surrounds didn't matter that much. Brand, tonal matching, etc was mostly directed to the main 3. Strictly for movies, that line of thinking is still okay for the most part.
I bought a pair of RBH Bookshelf speakers to use as side surrounds in my 5.2.4 system. After my new Salks (LCR) arrived I eventually moved my existing floorstanders (B&W 804m) to the rear. Granted, they are not a great tonal match with the Salks and for movies you'd never really know it.
Multi-ch music is a different animal...with every new purchase of a SACD or bluray audion disc, more and more I'm finding that the rear channels get a full range signal. The B&Ws sound much better than the RBHs with many of these multi-ch recordings. So having another set of floorstanding Klipschs in the rear is a good idea if multi-ch music is something you want to take in.