Two quality centres vs Three average?

[Evo42]

Since you're agonizing over the choice, my guess is that you'll want to continue upgrading at some point. Don't be fooled into thinking these are your forever speakers.

With that in mind, spend all your money on a quality pair of speakers for left and right. When you eventually want better sound, add a proper center channel speaker. With this strategy, someday you might even move those bookshelves to surround duty and buy an even better pair for the mains.

Yes very true. Funnily enough my rears are actually pretty good, JBL studio and were reduced from $1099 to $250 AUD.

 

[ooheadsoo]

If you can upgrade to a receiver with line outs for lcr, you might consider the kali in5.

 

[Jon AA]

....I realise a soundbar could be great and in terms of clarity they may surpass many home theatre set ups but the limitations still lay with the the small drivers. They also rely on a high crossover with their subs. With my current Sony soundbar I need the sub to the rear and the disconnect and lack of midrange is not great.

If budget isn't your limitation--only space--there is a soundbar solution that would work for you. It won't be cheap and may require some effort to get it set up properly and integrated with the rest of your stuff (you'll need to use one of their amp/controllers for the LCR), but you won't be lacking midrange kick, that's for sure: https://www.theoryprofessional.com/products/p/sb65 . They also have 75" and 85", depending upon your TV size.

 

[Eric Natural]

Evo - my HT setup is similar to your console / big screen situation :

B&W M-1s sounding fine for LCR duty
Best of Luck

 

[Evo42]

Thanks for the responses leaning towards a pair of q150 horizontal at the moment as it's great value and maybe add a q250c later, might not even need it.