Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Please Vote for the best surround placement

I think the rears will be best placed at least 4ft behind the seating position so 19ft is my choice. I think that no in-ceiling in the world will give you the same envelopment as the QS8s, not even close, but if aesthetic is the wife's main concern...

I like the rear channels on the back wall, direct radiating not QS's, this way you can have more sound/music behind the couch when using that space. You just need to use 7 channel stereo for the best sound back there. And yes, your avr should be able to adjust for that distance to the seating area for proper effect at the couch.

Bill, aside from the ceiling mount question, the #1 arrangement is closest to the ideal. The side surrounds in a 7.1 setup should be directly to the side of the listening position. The back surrounds should be separated enough to give listeners both a left back and right back effect. They certainly should be farther back than you propose, however, as Bruno points out, for a rear sound field to form, even on the back wall if necessary.

The use of the QS8s for at least the side surrounds is strongly suggested, with the right one on the wall about 6-7' up and the left one suspended from the ceiling.

For me, it's not even close. #1 all the way but I cannot stress enough you MUST get QS surrounds. They are simply amazing, and the less space and less ideal placement/setup you have the more advantage the QS' will have over bookshelf speakers. Next choice #3 and last choice #2.

Another vote for QS8s, at least for side surrounds, in the #1 position of course. Seems like direct speakers in the rear surround position would be OK if they were mounted on the back wall in the #2 or #3 position, although I don't have any experience with 7.1 yet so am mostly aggregating comments from others. I have a pair of M2s I plan to use for rear surrounds, also at a fair distance back from the seating area.

Seems to me that there has been altogether too little discussion about the car and motorcycle in the back of the room. This needs to be addressed ASAP.

The back of the room is a workout area. This actually was a garage that is being turned into living space.

Well the room change and I was wondering what peoples thoughts are to the different surround locations as compared to the new seating locations. People sit 13' from the screen. The L/R side surround would be located 5' behind and to the left and right. The L/R rear surrounds would be approximately 12.5' from the listeners.

I like the new layout. Wondering if it would be possible to move the side surrounds a bit further forward ?

You seem to have enough distance from viewer to rear surrounds that conventional speakers (eg M2s) could be used if you want.

Those side surrounds are what I have been battling. From that right side surround speaker to seating position is one biggggg bay window. SO I have been having a bear of a time for surround speaker placement. So in your opinion 12.5 ft from the viewers is not to far away?? So if I stuck with this setup and switched to direct firing speakers in the rear and then QS8's for the sides would this help to make up for the placement issues that I am having to deal with??

Thanks for the response I do greatly appreciate the help

Bill, the back surround position looks good. The side surrounds should be placed directly to the side of the listening position, rather than farther back, since the back surrounds take care of the rear sound field and don't need any help doing that from the side surrounds. The sides should therefore be placed in the best position to reproduce the side channel effects.