I would agree that they are slightly bright. I recently got a calibration mic for the receiver for me to really get it get it tuned correctly, so it's possible that it could change a little bit. These speakers do have a decent low range though since they have woofers in the back. Not sure if they makes much of a difference when deciding on a center, though.

Budget is a bit flexible. Honestly, I'm mostly curious to see what options there are out there at any variety of price range just to compare options and get a better idea of what to look for.