I have been using some M3s as my surrounds for the last few years. I have a pair of QS8s that didn't work out in my last house because of poor mounting location options. When we moved to our new house (much better mounting options), I had forgotten about the QS8s. Well the other day, I stumbled upon them in a box in the garage and thought I'd try them out. Wow I love them!

My room was pre-wired, so I have a guy coming Friday to re-route the wires inside the walls, patch/paint the old bracket and speaker cable outlet areas etc... While the drywall is cut open, I thought it would be best to have him put a 2x4 horizontally in between the studs so that they could be placed evenly (my left and right studs don't line up).

I am free on both sides to go from 1' to 5' above my listening position, as I read in the manual. Is there a preferred height? They are at 3' above now.

Also, should I mount them at 90degrees from my listening position, as they are now, or should I move them back a bit. I thought I read some posts about wanting them set a bit back from 90, but I can't seem to find them now.

Since I'm free vertically and horizontally (for once!) I wanted to make sure I get them in the best location.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Eric

The best position is different for every room because of acoustic differences and room size. However, they are very forgiving on placement. Normally, the rule of thumb is at least 2-3ft above your ear level when seated or higher. My bottom drivers on my Q's are 7ft off the floor and they sound great.

For a 7.1 setup, I like having my "side" Q's directly to the side of the listening area, for 5.1, just slightly behind. Currently, I have 2 rows of seating, so even though I have 7.1, I have the side surrounds just a bit behind a parrallel line of my ears when seating in the front row.

ps: can't believe you forgot you had Qs8's, lol

Thanks for the input! I liked that you said they were 'forgiving'. I'm probably trying too hard to find the perfect spot, but I sure don't want to have to move wires around inside the wall again either.

I neglected to mention, the room is 14'x 24', TV at one end, one row of seating across, dividing the room 11' from the TV. Most everything behind is computer, desks, shelves. I also have a cathedral type ceiling in the room with a 7.1 setup.

M22s, VP150, the QS8s, M3's in the back and an EP350. Since the whole QS8 sounds great in this room thing, I've been eying the M60s/M80s, but I guess that's for another day.

Yeah, I can understand you want everything to look nice and have to speakers in the same position on each wall, I did the same.. When you calibrate the speakers for distance/dB levels, it will account for the small differences if you can't get them exact.

M60's and M80's are awesome.

Eric, since you have back surround speakers in your 7.1 setup, the side surround speakers don't have to help with the back effect, as they do in a 5.1 setup. So, they should be placed directly to the side of the listening position, rather than slightly farther back, and about 3' above ear level.