$2500 Front 3 for home theater

So I have been looking at speakers for a while but the wife finally gave the official go-ahead. I am willing to go as high as $2500 for the front 3 and these will be used mainly for home theater use.

Room is 23' wide, 12' deep, 8' high. Untreated with hardwood floors although the furniture is a bit plush and there is an area rug. The couch is a foot from the wall putting me 9' from the L/R (Which are about 9' apart) and 8' from the center, which is on an enclosed shelf/cabinet under the TV and only 15" or so from the ground. I will be driving these with my Pioneer 94 receiver, rated at 140 wpc. I use a cheap but effective eD sub and everything is crossed over at 80hz (my Pioneer only offers settings of 50, 80, or 100 and it is for all channels).

Currently I am using Infinity Beta 40 towers and the large, matching 360 center. I like the Betas for 2 channel music but the center is just not articulate enough, especially at lower volumes.

So far I have found a few things I like but all have potential problems with the center channels, none of which I have heard or will have the chance to hear until after the fact.

- Dali Ikon 6. Concerned about the center being somewhat small with only 2 5" mid-woofers. Can they handle all that movies require of a center channel?

- Vandersteen 1C. Same concern as above (the center only has a 1" tweeter and 1 6 1/2" woofer). Also concerned about Vandersteens being primarily fabric. I have a 2 1/2 year old.

- Usher monitors. The center has a raised tweeter (Like Swan, B&W) which would require a cabinet modification or rebuild and could also be bait for my daughter.

So far I have not liked Monitor Audio, Revel, Dynaudio, other Dali's. Not to say any of these were bad, I just did not like them in comparison to the Dali Ikons, Vandersteen 1C's, or the Ushers.

What else should I be looking at in this price range (and not a penny more) for home theater use? Remember, I need something with a great center channel. Also, if you recommend monitors then keep in mind stands are going to eat $250 of my budget.

I should have said that I am not all that interested in ID brands, although the av123 open baffle speakers are quite tempting as are the Swans, although the center channels for both would require rethinking my current cabinet.

I realize I may be short changing myself, but I want to see and hear speakers before buying. One of the problems with Internet purchases is once you have them in your home there may be a bit of a halo effect and you may convice yourself you like them more than you would have if demoed someplace.

I had not really considered B&W; they just slipped my mind. What products do they have that may be in my price range?

Thanks for the suggestions!

I did check out some Paradigm today, although to be honest I am not sure which model numbers. I know what the guy told me, but it doesn't seem to match up with what I see online. But I think it was Studio 20's v4 (pretty sure this was correct) and then Studio 10's v5 (no idea here). They were nice speakers but nothing special. Paradigm fans don't be upset. I am sure they are great for you, but as Sly and Family used to say, different strokes and all that...

Anywho, they made me realize two things: 1) 5" drivers can sound good and fill a decent sized space. And 2)I really, really like the Ikons.

Once I realized there was nothing wrong with 5" drivers I decided to listen to Ikon 5's, since they are a bit closer in design to the Ikon Vokal 2 center channel. I liked them quite a bit and they were barely, just barely bested by the Icon 6's. Even then it was only on certain songs.

Since the Ikon 6's were not drastically more and to ensure I would never be sitting at home wondering if I should have gotten the bigger, slightly more expensive speakers I went with the 6's.

Overall I loved the auditioning experience and meeting different dealers, listening to different speakers and so on, but it is nice to finally pull the trigger and be done with it all.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It helped me decide what I did and didn't like and helped solidify my decision.