Welcome to the board. Great to hear that this worked for you. I ended doing something very similar - took yet another step and bridged the left surround and left back together (and then did the equivalent manipulation to the right back and right side). This only affects the analog inputs on the reciever and makes the excessive directionality that was so noticable when sitting close to the speakers disappear.
I used a simple Y cable (2 male RCA to 1 female RCA x2) for the bridges.
M60 x 2
QS8 x 4
VP150
HSU STF2
Panasonic LT500U
Marantz 7400
Panasonic DVD-F87 (used for CD / Stereo)
Pioneer DV-578 (DVD-A / SACD)
Axiom Setup 
