advice on floorstanding front/tiny surround setup

I am looking to replace my current setup with a 5.1 setup. My Klipsch KG2.5 bookshelves sound really crappy to me ever since I moved to a new space. Missing detail, sounding flat. Goal is mix of good quality and nice looks, will be used for music, movies and TV of course.


What might work well for me is two floorstanding speakers in the front, matching center speaker that can be wall mounted or on a speaker stand, a not-too-big subwoofer and pair of very tiny white rear channels for wall mounting high up on the walls, horizontally-aligned with our seating position, more or less. Surround effect is nice but more important that fronts sound great, and that the rears can be unobtrusive.


room: 12'6 wide x 19 long, but L-shaped so there is opening on the right side starting 6' from the front

43" flat PDP

sofa 8' from tv, middle of room

Marantz SR8000 AVR

Energy subwoofer I would prefer to re-use.

Area rug, otherwise hardwood floor, no heavy curtains, etc.


budget is $2500, approximately.


One thought was to use the Monitor Audio R45 speakers for the rear channels but I don't know what to pair them up with. Not a huge fan of the wall mounted front speakers, afraid it will bother neighbors, also they seem limited in quality and sort of less attractive.


Related question: the sofa is mid-room, behind it is dining room area. What happens if I mount rear speakers on the far wall, 10' behind the sofa, instead of near the (9') ceiling, to the left/right of the sofa?


Any ideas? Not sure where to start, have been looking at Monitor, Polk, Definitive, Energy, Axiom... Looking for some advice or particularly helpful dealer in NYC. I know its subjective but I few ideas would help.


TIA.