Which speakers should I get for this setup?

[tweeker]

I just moved into a new house that used to have a home theatre system setup. I took some pics of the layout. There are 4 in ceiling speakers that are Polk RC60i. They form kind of a half moon shape behind where the couch is to sit. Here's a picture of them.
in celing speaker back right | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Then on the front wall there are mounts that seem to be pretty high to me. Here's a picture of the mounts and the banana plugs they are next to. top wall mount close | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

you can see how high the mounts are in this picture
wall mounts | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The question I'm struggling with is what front and center channel speakers do I get to work with this setup? Id rather not move the cable runs around but will if it's going to make an enormous difference. I do plan to eventually mount the tv on the wall and not have it on that stand.

 

[DD66000]

I would never place my LCRs up that high. You want them at ear level, when seated.
Buy whatever LCRs sound best to you, JBL L820/LC2 would be a good choice for wall mounted. I would do one of two things for the LCRs.

Either fish new speaker wires, inside the wall, from those upper connection boxes down to the elevation you want to mount the LCRs and installing new boxes. Or if you plan on installing drapes on those windows just connect wires to those connections and run them down the wall behind the drapes. You would only have a short amount of wire showing, as they run from behind the drapes to the L/R mains.

 

[tweeker]

I thought they were too high, Those JBL's look nice. I wish I had the budget for them. But to be honest that pair is probably too high priced for me . I'm looking at around 1k for everything and I need a receiver too. So I was thinking more like $400 for both the front 2 and the center channel. I know it won't be the best but it's what I can afford. I was looking at a Polk CS20 and then whatever speakers match that maybe? Also is the fact that the surround speakers are in the ceiling instead of at ear level going to make it crappy?

 

[DD66000]

I suspect the previous owner had bose type of speakers mounted high.

One thing you can check out is Harman Audio's online store for good deals on Infinity and JBL speakers, HK AVRs, on their auctions, you might find deals in your price range.

http://www.harmanaudio.com/search_browse/reconditioned.asp

 

[rolyasm]

Ditto as above. You either need to run new speaker wire down to the TV area to place the speakers closer to the TV or go to in-ceiling, which are designed and angled to work that high. In ceilings are not the best way to go, but if you are trying to maintain aesthetics, they are great. You could even do in-wall in front if you wanted everything hidden, which would be better than in ceiling, but not as good as free-standing. If you are going to be placing your receiver on the front wall, just run new wire to some towers or wall-mounted speakers and either leave the brackets and wire up high, or patch and paint.
The 4 "crescent" speakers in back will work okay for surround until you can afford something better. There are several companies that offer good in-ceiling surround speakers. I have a friend who uses Atlantic Technologie's Tri-mode in his ceiling, and truthfully, the sound is amazing.

 

[tweeker]

Ok this all sounds good. As far as the 4 cresent, do I use them as 2 seperate channels and do a 7.1 setup? That was the plan initially.