Like you said identical speakers would be ideal, but even then "sonic likeness" is not likely to happen because of the different positioning of the speakers within the room. Perhaps if you have an ideal room that allows all speakers to behave the same accoustically in the different positions you might achieve the same tonality from all speakers, but I would bet that the vast majority of rooms are far from this ideal.
For example, although my surrounds are the same, they sound different because one is in a corner and the other is in the open. Fortunately, even in compromised situations (surrounds different than mains, location/room compromises) excellent results can still be obtained.
Nuance should be able to get a great surround experience even on a small budget.
I concur. Studies have also shown this to be true. I would, of course, go with matching SongTower RT's all the way around if I could afford it (or if the room was big enough, which it isn't), but I don't listen to multi-channel music, so I'll be just fine with some cheaper surrounds and rears for movies.
Thanks everyone! I ordered mounts, now I just need to settle on which pair of speakers to use as side surrounds (already have the rears). Things are slowly but surely coming along nicely in my new home.
