Recently moved to a new (to us, it was built in 2006) home that happened to have a dedicated theater room (12 wide,15' deep, 8'/9' recessed ceiling) which had in-wall speakers (7.1 setup) as follows:
-Polk Audio-
Center: TC265i
Fronts: RC85i
Surrounds: RC65i
Surround Backs: RC85i
Yes, the 65i's as surrounds...there was a window in the way preventing matching 85i's
Anyway, at the old place, I was running Definitive Tech ProCenter 1000 & six ProMonitor 800s.
The receiver is a Pioneer VSX-1122.
I am not an audiophile by any means....but the in-wall Polks just don't sound right to me. I've driven the wife crazy switching the wiring between the in-walls, and the Def Tech's on (ear-level) stands for the past few weeks....
So, my question to you experts is: What's the better speaker setup given these two sets?
Looking at the specs, and the original MSRPs, I would have expected to like the 265/85/65i's more than I do.... Are my ears just bad? Could the in-walls have been installed acoustically poorly? Am I just not used to having speakers mounted at ceiling level (all but the center are flush with the 8' ceiling; center is right above the TV). Also of note, the 3 fronts back to the mechanical room, where I can see the back of the speakers, no insulating material behind them.
Unrelated to the above, any thoughts on the receiver/speaker pairing? Is the 1122 overkill for these speakers? underkill?
Any input welcome!
-Polk Audio-
Center: TC265i
Fronts: RC85i
Surrounds: RC65i
Surround Backs: RC85i
Yes, the 65i's as surrounds...there was a window in the way preventing matching 85i's

Anyway, at the old place, I was running Definitive Tech ProCenter 1000 & six ProMonitor 800s.
The receiver is a Pioneer VSX-1122.
I am not an audiophile by any means....but the in-wall Polks just don't sound right to me. I've driven the wife crazy switching the wiring between the in-walls, and the Def Tech's on (ear-level) stands for the past few weeks....
So, my question to you experts is: What's the better speaker setup given these two sets?
Looking at the specs, and the original MSRPs, I would have expected to like the 265/85/65i's more than I do.... Are my ears just bad? Could the in-walls have been installed acoustically poorly? Am I just not used to having speakers mounted at ceiling level (all but the center are flush with the 8' ceiling; center is right above the TV). Also of note, the 3 fronts back to the mechanical room, where I can see the back of the speakers, no insulating material behind them.
Unrelated to the above, any thoughts on the receiver/speaker pairing? Is the 1122 overkill for these speakers? underkill?
Any input welcome!