FH recommendation for Strata Mini/Ref setup

So now that I have a new receiver that supports PLIIz and DSX I'm considering going with front height speakers. My room just won't support wides so that is not in consideration for now. Fortunately when I had my house built I included wiring for Yamaha's front height speakers, so I've also got that going for me. Two things are affecting my decision, I think anything big is going to look awkward, and I'd like to keep the cost down to a few hundred. I just don't see these speakers being so vital that they need to cost a lot of money nor match exactly.

My main problem is I naively believed MLS when he said he'd be offering matching surrounds and centers for the Minis. 2.5 years later, absolutely nothing. So as it is I have the Minis, Ref 1 for surround back, Ref 100 for center, and recently I added Emotiva ERD-1 for side surround. I'm pleased with the overall sound as it is now, so I have no desire to swap out everything for another line of speakers. Also right now I don't want to spend that kind of money. So onto my candidates:

TweakCityAudio WAF-1 - I have a $50 credit there, so that makes these a real bargain. Based on my room and where they'll be positioned, their finish looks like it might be close enough to the Rosewood that AV123 uses, so another plus. And their overall size is fairly good. It seems to me that these would be as good as about anything else I might find.

AV123 ELT-525M - I have a pair of these already in another room. Unfortunately they are in Cherry rather than Rosewood. So I'd either have an odd match, or need another pair, and I really don't care to purchase anything else from AV123 right now.

Emotiva ERM-1 - Would be a close match to my sides, but does that matter? Black can kind of go with anything. Not much of a contender, but it's something to consider.

Boston Acoustics SoundWare XS Satellite Speaker - Cheap, small, unobtrusive. Part of me loves this option. I could go with white and mount them such that you won't even see them. But then I'm concerned about the sound. The other speakers I think will match close enough to the rest of the system so as not to stand out. Would these? Or would any height sound just jump out at you and be distracting?

Here's a pic of the front of the room:


So any opinions on my choices or recommendations for any other speakers?

Chris from Audyssey is of the opinion that the front sound stage should be identical or from the same family. Now I'm not sure if that's really necessary and would like to get opinions from those who've tested it out. In the case of Yamaha's sound modes the front height speakers were purely ambiance, but others have said that's not the case with PLIIz and DSX.

Oh, and I realized I have a Gizmo from TweakCityAudio and that it's rosewood panel is the same as their speakers. It's a near enough match to my speakers so as not be noticeable, so that's another positive for those speakers.

Pulling the speakers off the wall in the other room and rigging up a mount for them in the theater would be a pain. Not a bad idea, but a lot of work. I'll look into it though. I doubt there's a problem with the fronts and sides interacting, otherwise there'd be all sorts of issues with all the other speakers too.


If I only I had the skills, tools and time I'd love to pursue that.


Only problem there is the Ref 1 weighs about double making wall and ceiling mounts more trouble.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm leaning heavily towards the WAF-1. If for some reason I don't like them, I can find another use for them.

Someone at the TCA forums was actually looking into making speakers to go with the minis a while back, I believe it was someone that has done some work with MLS. He was trying to obtain the drivers and apparently hit a brick wall with that. I might have to look into that again, but it didn't look promising back then.