There are a lot of 'kits' out there that you can cut your DIY teeth on. Might be a nice way to upgrade your surrounds if you can find a kit using ScanSpeak drivers....

Having apparently scared you off "serious" DIY (with, I believe, good reasons), I would on the other hand recommend an easy and cost-effective sub-woofer DIY that I believe would be a significant upgrade if you have a Def Tech sub. Parts Express does a kit for a 10" powered subwoofer which they dub the Titanic II (I guess they're not into history) that can be assembled in a couple of hours. Amp and all is a little over $300 and will outperform up to about twice that much. The looks are low-grade and I wish they offered it in MDF for self-finishing but they don't - its basic black and not very nice even at that. If you decide to get it, post for some useful suggestions about assembling it. I'm pleased with mine given that I bought it as a 2-3 year stopgap. Unlike my center channel, I'm even using it with pleasing results with my mains when I'm listening to music. Event hough it sounds like my room is quite a bit larger than yours, I DO have aesthetic considerations too and the 10" gives good performance while being quite unobtrusive.

Sounds like you have a very understanding merchant (although perhaps you have achieved that level of understanding by a high amount of custom). You REALLY should listen to the Linn Ninkas (less than half the price) before making your final decision if not too late.

My own experience has been that "sweet" is a synonym for "lack of accuracy" - although I would NOT say that "bright" is a sysnonym for accuracy. The Thiel speakers, for example, are to my ears considerably sweeter and less accurate than the Linns but in extended listening, it is the "sweet" speakers that I find to be a bit more fatiguing.

I would concur with Charlie that there ARE kits that are very adequate for surrounds but not for mains.

I have no familiarity with, or even knowledge of, the Outlaw amp that I think you are using. An issue with mixing speaker types / brands is differing impedances. IMHO ability to handle a wide range of impedances is a major but not-often-talked-about quality differentiator between amps. If the outlaw amp has separate power supplies for the different channels, shouldn't be too much of a problem, but if not, watch out ...

“You REALLY should listen to the Linn Ninkas”. I’ll look them up on the web and see if I can find a local dealer (although my sales guy would be soooo disappointed…) I’m in the limited time boat for ranging far and wide. But I DO have 30 days. To be honest there are many many speakers that I hope I get to hear in the next years…now that I care. But some of these are mail-order only or just extremely hard to acess in limited time. And its not that I have not been listening (or have not had 'ears' even though not actively shopping. I still have a ‘sound’ in my head I’m aiming for and if something besides the Beth. can better it by much….I think I’ll faint.
"sweet" is a synonym for "lack of accuracy" When I saw the term sweet used about the Vennias on a couple of consumer posted reviews. I thought that word (as I think of it) doesn’t come to mind with these speakers. They seem closer to ‘clear’ like water. But then I’m not always sure of the general consensus on the exact intent of much of the terminology/jargon in AV. (Still learning how to ‘talk’ it). I do know that whenever I hear what I think of as ‘bright’, it hurts my ears…. Some slower than others. I seem to hear 2 broad categories of brights going on out there in pre/pros and speakers….One bright is more on what I would call the accurate side, but still on most of these to greater/lessor degree I get the sensation that it is fatiguing on a slower scale. And one ‘bright’ which to me at its worst is hard-edged or even bordering strident and fatiguing very quickly. Remember that’s (my bright) but I need to get the jargon down as to how this industry perceives each term. (But I have been accused of even coming up with new words in the English language if I think it’al fit.) I was once told don’t use ‘dark’ as a term for warmer sounding setups. But that’s the word that pops to (my strange little mind) when I hear very warm sounding pre-pro’s. ‘A dark sound’. I wish you could hear these, I would like to hear your opinion (75 miles!). But to be honest I was not ‘Thrilled’ with any of these speakers in the store. Every one, had one ‘area’ in its sound that appeared lacking to me. The Vienna’s came the closest to doing this the least, or at least had a broader range of ‘what I think I like’.
When I paired them with the Outlaw they are stunning (acoustic guitar plucks make you want to cry) , and to be honest, I felt instantly …now this is ME.
(If I was a speaker ….something like the ‘voice’ I’d want for myself).
I noticed the impedance difference’s I have going on now….I did not care to try and understand the ramifications of this before when I had the matched set of Def Techs. All I knew with orginal speakers were specs were in line with what the Outlaw amp could handle. So far I’m not hearing a problem with the Outlaw running this new unmatched setup….However, I never hung my BL/BR of the Def Techs so the Outlaw 770 is not handling a 7.1 load yet. I just realized while I was working today….(Yippy) that tonight I can now wire for a singe back surround by just moving an interconnect!!! (The previous SR) Picture a room where everything is off axis to the walls. The way the Def techs were hung I have the SR behind me in a way that will work (temp) as a center back, till the dang husband gets in the dang attic. (I’ve never even heard my 950 in a 6.1 or 7.1 Setup!)

Charlie your right!. From the little I’ve read so far a sub is a great DIY jumpoff. Right now I’m just hoping the new speakers will inspire him to help me figure out the permanent stand/storage for the TV and the gear. He came home and started talking about it again….and said we need to get this all finished and organized…(fingers crossed).

This is exactly what I mean when I say that you will know when you find the right speakers- they will speak to you! I agree for HT I'd probably set the fronts up as small, but give please give 'em a listen for 2 channel configred as "large". They have plenty of bass capacity for most types of music and will probably sound awesome.