I'm about to upgrade my home theater from 5.1 to 7.1. I use M3's as side surrounds, and plan to buy a pair of QS-4's for the rear surrounds. The mains are M60's. In the 5.1 setup, I mounted the surrounds about 1 metre back from where we sit. With a 7.1 setup, should I be moving the side surrounds in line with the couch, or do directional effects sound better if I leave the side surrounds where they are?

Thanks

For 7.1 you should move the sides in front of your listening position about 1/3 of the way to the fronts. The rears should then go where your M3s are currently located. I would suggest QS8s for the rears with your system.

Ian Colquhoun
President & Chief Engineer