[Beerserker]

I stand by my recommendation to get the center now. Why would he want to put up with a center he doesn't like until he can afford a whole front stage? Depending on how much he can afford to save, it could be months that he'll have to listen to a center he's unhappy with, just out of fear of a little timbre match problem. I have heard plenty of these little entry level center channels and believe me I would rather have something that I can hear and understand, even if dialog panning is inconsistent. At least it will be clearly audible. In the end if he upgrades the whole main stage, at least he will have been able to enjoy the center sooner rather then later.

EDIT: and yes, if you can work three identical floorstanders into your setup, that would be ideal.