now that I am really enjoying my Axiom setup, I'm itching to get the full experience from my new SC-55. I want to add surround back speakers. I have a small wall abouit 5.5 feet wide, four feet behind my sitting position. It is centered fairly well in the environment. Should I get another set of QS8's or go with something like the on-wall M3's? Any advice?

I would just go with the QS speakers, they are so perfect for the task.

QS8's - no question in my mind.

Absolutely, another set of Axiom QS8 is the ideal and perfect solution !

If the wall is only 5.5ft wide, I don't think that is enough for 2 Qs8's, you need them spread out more than that, in my opinion. You could just go with 1 Qs8 centered on that wall. Unless I am not understanding your description, there would not be enough seperation.

Mark, I generally suggest that there should be at least 4' of space behind the listening position for a rear sound field to form with back surround speakers in a 7.1 setup. With your relatively close distance the preference should clearly be for wide dispersion QSs, rather than more direct firing speakers which could be considered as an alternative if say 10' was the distance.

The distance that they should be separated varies with the distance back they are, and a rule-of-thumb is to separate them by as much as they're behind you. So, in your case having them separated by 4-5' and about 2' above ear level should give excellent results.

this talk about rear surround is starting to make me itch a bit...

When I started dreaming about V4.0 of my theater, I knew that I wanted 7.2 surround. I also knew that a second pair of QS8s would be the best option. Randy brings up a good point though, you want some width between them I would think. In my setup, I wired for the rear QS8s to be about 8 feet apart on a 14 foot wide back wall.

Nick our rear QS8s are 8' apart on a 14' wide back wall (7.5' from the listening position) and that location really works out great with the room.

One more vote for a single QS8.

But, wouldn't you only get either the left OR the right speaker in that setup, and not both? If it were me, I'd still put in both, even if they were about 2 or 3 foot apart. May not be perfect, but at least you are getting sound that is meant for both the left and right side.

I've been toying with the idea of mounting QS8's about 3 feet to my front left and right. Not ideal, no, but I might get a more complete sound field.

No, most receivers manage that as a 6.1 system and in the receiver setup you say you only have "1" rear speaker so all the material is sent to the single speaker.

Mr. Quacky (yes Randy, that is you) is right. It is sort of like the opposite of when a receiver takes a 5.1 soundtrack and "mixes in" its own 2 additional channels to output sound for a 7.1 system. In this case, it just "mixes" a 6th primary channel instead of a 6th and 7th for 5.1 content.

For native 7.1 content, the receiver would just change the mix to sort of combine the 6th and 7ths channel into one.

Ideal for the best sound reproduction? No as you are still combining 7.1 sound into a 6.1 setup, but then again, we aren't dealing with an ideal situation.

On the counter-point, I think that you could go with two QS8s mounted as "wide" as possible. It may end up sounding just a little better than a single QS8 mounted in the middle, but the cost trade off will need to be made. Is it worth the cost of 2 rear speakers if you get the effective sound of (I am making this number up) 1.4 channels (as in more than 1, but less than a solid 2)...

Maybe it is worth it.

So Nick, why should I go with Dish versus Direct TV?

i'd say go with the QS8v3's no question. i have 4 of them in my setup and my surround back are about 5' apart and are about 12+ feet back from the side surrounds (check out the photo)and they work incredibly well, better than i could have imagined. the best part is that i matrix all my 5.1 and it gives everyone a perfect seat even if we have folks in chairs behind the couch or further back into the dinning area everyone has perfect surround sound! for actual 7.1 they provide a hugh rear surround field Thor & Transformers Dark of the Moon had some of the best sound ever. wanna think about your future, think "Super 8", train wreck, comming soon!

Brian, when the modes such as DPLII or Neo:6 have only one back speaker(i.e., 6.1)it's sent part of each side surround speaker sound. Sound that's equal or near equal in the side surround channels is intended to be imaged in or near the back center and the back center speaker can do this.

Two back surround speakers, however, can carry varying amounts of sound from left back to center back to right back and at times give a back "stereo" effect. Again, the separation that could be had here would be enough to realize that effect.

I may have to try this. In my living room I would either have to place a single one one the rear wall, or 2 about 3 feet in front of me.

Brian, of course those two mounting positions aren't alternatives. If you wanted to first have side surrounds for a 5.1 setup, placing them to the side but maybe 3' forward would be usable, but directly to the side or slightly farther(maybe 2')back is better. Then a center back speaker could be added for 6.1 and that middle rear sound field, but two back speakers, separated adequately, could form a more continuous 7.1 field.

Well directly to my left and going back is the living rooms main window. To my right is a wall, but a little further back is the entry way into the dining/kitchen area.

The mounting would have to either be forward 3 feet where there is about 2 feet between the window and entry door, or in the center of the wall directly behind me. On the rear wall, and to the right (when I'm seated) is another window, eliminating the possibility of 2 rear speaker mountings.

I see now, after your comment how a 6.1 setup this way is a possibility. That thought just hadn't occured to me until just this moment.