The local dealer recommended the RB61 over the RB81 because the size was more of a match and they thought the 81 would overpower the center. I was skeptical but I gave it a try and the RB61 seem awesome. I ended up staying up way, way, way too late watching movies I've seen tons of times already just to enjoy the new balance in the system. The real test was watching a movie with the better half and at the end she said "Did you notice that I didn't ask you to turn it up once?" which means the balance is much better.
As a side note, the RB61 are amazingly small. I couldn't believe there were two in the box. I have yet to test audio but we rarely use the living room for audio these days.