Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 5.1 rear speaker placement in two row theater

Hi all,

Been searching, found some similar topics but not quite my scenario.

I am going to have 2 rows of seating in my 15' 6" long room. First row will be about 8 feet from screen, 2nd row seats about 5 feet behind.

I am looking to wire for 7.1, but will initially only have 5.1. I have seen some info that says for dipolar speakers and 2 rows of seating, put the rear surrounds between the 1st and 2nd rows.

I am going to be going with quad polar axiom QS4 speakers mounted from the ceiling.

1. Should these go in the same spot as dipolars - between the 1st and 2nd rows? Due to the length of my room I really have no choice but to do this - assuming I eventually put the 7.1 speakers on the rear wall.

2. With the rear surrounds in front of the 2nd row, what will the listening experience be like when sitting in the 2nd row? Do you still get the 'surround' effect?

3. Given that my 2nd row will only be a foot or 2 from the rear wall, will a 7.1 setup even work well for me or will the 7.1 speakers on the rear wall be too close to the back row (same axiom qs4 on rear wall)?

Thanks a lot for the input.

I had exactly the same problem when I ordered my stuff. If you have the money, I would get 2 sets of side surrounds, one to the side of each row wired in parallel. This would be optimal, I just couldn't decide what to do so I didn't build a second row...

hmmm, I wonder though, if with 2 sets of rears in such close proximity to each other, if there wouldn't be some sort of weird effects when seated in either row.

Guess it should be fine, as I imagine this is how movie theaters are setup.

I'm hoping with the quad-polar speakers just 2 rears in-between the 2 rows would suffice. Given that the majority of the time the back row will be empty anyway.

when you say 2 rears, you mean 2 sides right? There are side surrounds (for a 5.1 system) and sides AND rears (for a 7.1 system).

Just want to clarify what you are saying...

right, my bad. I mean 2 sides.

I think 9.1 would be WAY overkill.

I'd wire for 7.1 with the surround ("side") speakers between the two rows and the "rear" speakers on the back wall. Yes, use QS4's or QS8's for both pairs. Even if you start at 5.1, you could decide to place the surrounds at the back location if you decide it sounds better to you that way.

2nd row experience should be just fine with either 5.1 or 7.1. As long as you're not sitting directly against the back wall, you'll be great.

The QS surrounds are really forgiving relative to placement.

That is very good to hear. Pretty much was going to wire this way regardless. Just good to know it should work out ok as well.

But it would look awesome 6 QS's around the seating area, absolutely AWESOME.

I'm with Tom on this one, a 9.1 system would be way overkill for that room.

If I were doing our room all over again I'd do all of the 7.1* pre-wiring as Tom is suggesting and would probably consider a 5.2 system over a 7.1 to start out with and add the rear surrounds (7.2) at a later date, if I feel that I needed to. You may find that a 5. system will sound perfectly fine for your particular application.

*During our construction we actually did in wall pre-wiring for 6 subwoofer locations...a thought to consider.

My setup is very similar. I have side Qs8's mounted on the ceiling between the first and second rows of seating, works great. They are about 6ft to the sides. My rear Qs8's are behind the second row, also on the ceiling, a couple of feet behind and work great as well.

What do you mean here? Your side speaker are six feet away from the seats?

Great to hear this configuration works well.

Of course, the original poster isn't asking or talking about 9.1, so this is all kind of moot.

In any case, I have my surround speakers slightly ahead of the listening position. I would be happier with it if I had rear surrounds, but it does the job pretty well.

Yea but ... but I thought getting off topic was a prerequisite for posting or replying on the Axiom forums?

Could I be wrong after after all of these post??

It is not a prerequisite, but it helps...

Oh, of course it is. Just pointing that out in case people were getting confused.

Somebody said "two sides". I was trying to clarify.

Anybody do any special Holiday baking?

I never mentioned 9.1, I mentioned having 2 sets of side surrounds for 2 rows...it actually is very applicable to this thread...

He meant (judging from his first post) 2 total side surround speakers, not 2 pairs of side surround speakers.

I know what he meant, I just mentioned what I meant

Yes the room is 15ft wide, so the surrounds are close to the walls. So each side surround is about 5-6 ft from the seats. If you had them right up next to your seats that would not give you the best results.

Tom I made a killer pineapple upside down cake in the cast iron skillet a few days ago, first food item I think I ever baked...wifey was surprised I baked, I was surprised the house didn't get burned down. Nothing special for the holidays though.


Who's getting a 9.1 system installed?

Rick, are you thinking about this? really, I think the only person on this board that should be thinking about this is Randy...hopefully he will come to his senses and install the 9.4 system that his room really does need.

Oh no, no no no Robb ... Ricko has more than he can handle at the moment, technological advances are at a faster rate than I can keep up. I have a difficult enough time keeping up with which damn remote goes to what component, much less what 1080p,i, 1.3 HDMI, lossless sound, True DD...etc and so on, makes my brain smoke thinking about it.

That's why I have resorted to baking pineapple upside down cakes.

Sucks getting old!

So Rick, let me get this straight, you ARE going to get a 9.4 system?

Hi pheare, is this roughly the configuration you've been thinking about?



My room is basically 20L by 10W and 8H.

The sectional is currently split into 2 rows (various reasons) and I prefer the sound from the first row now with the QS8's slightly further back. They used to sit just about in line with the listener and are now around a foot or more back.

My second row is basically 2-3 feet back and up against the rear wall. I haven't had a chance to do any listening/movies since I installed the new rear QS8's. However, the side surrounds being slightly ahead of the second row sound good. The design of the QS8's make them that forgiving.

I believe you will have a little more room to set yours up and think it should be good. I will hopefully get sometime this weekend to put on some DVD's at reference levels and play.

If you feel my setup is similar and have any questions or want me try something let me know as I need more excuses to get some play time this weekend!

Hi Hay,

Yes your setup is very similar to what I am envioning for mine. Though I will have a little more room between the back row and the back wall (I hope).

Let me know how the rears sound with you back couch right up against the wall.

Thanks!