685 model was designed to be used primarily as surround speaker along with 683 fronts. They work very well in that role having good timbre match with these towers. But each multichannel setup assumes having a subwoofer to handle low frequencies. 685 can go as low as 60 Hz, but would benefit from sub help under 80. How someone talks about realistic sound of rock music, and ignores low bass is beyond my understandng. Even small room like 150 sqf will be best served with sub with any bookshelf and many floor standing spaekers.