The rear ones will throw off imaging and staging and one good set will blow away 3 crappy sets BTW, it is normal to pay more for your components than for your subs, that's how I've always had it See, there are component sets out there for $5000 and more A PIECE, but the most expensive subs only go to about $800. Also, your component set is reponsible for reproducing more than 98% of the audible music and subs are only for that 2%, so what do you think is more important???