Visuals are subjective - what one likes, another may dislike. Having a choice is always a good idea, and then you can cater for both camps. The other spanner in the works to alter the perception of a colour schema is monitor settings; brightness, contrast, saturation all play a part in how a visual image is perceived.
Personally, I would say your content type will pretty much govern what you are presenting. Both my sites are set as default dark with no option for light, as yet (that's coming), because images present themselves better on a dark background so that they become the dominant focus on the eye.
There are merits for both and an important factor to remember when choosing a colour schema, what suits you, as the site owner, may not sit well with your members. To exemplify this, I can remember when I was developing websites for clients, one asked me to create his company website in all yellow and blue, because they were 'his' favourite colours. I advised against it, but he was footing the bill, so I obliged. It wasn't up one day, when he came back and said he was getting inundated with complaints about his horrible colour choices, lol.
There are plenty of websites out there that offer directions on what colours complement each other to give a balanced structure to your colour schema, they are worth exploring and may just give you a heads-up.
