SO up until this point I was totally happy with ordering a 5.1 system when my basement gets finished (should be in the next month).

Well well, let me tell you, i just picked up a RX-V659 with 100w/channel 7.1 receiver. I was content in ordering a 5.1 system with QS8's, NOW I am thinking I midaswell go with 7.1!!!

So my qusetion is this: I will be using QS8's for the side surrounds. My room is 14 x 16 and the primary listening position will be 4 ft from the back wall. I was thinking QS8s would be sufficient, but I will probably be ordering my system in pieces:

M60s first and i'll get some banana plugs to get the 5% off. (along with an SVS sub)

Then i was thinking If i just ordered 2 more surrounds i could get 5 more speakers and get 5% off on my next order!

So I am thinking about getting some M3 surrounds in the back, is this a good choice? Since the listening area is quite small I don't want to get 4 QS8s!

So are the M3's a good choice for pairing with the M60s?

-Hutz

I would think that in a 14'x16' room that a 5.1 system with QS8s would be more than enough. Then again if you can do it, do it.

perhaps you are right.

I am very impulsive, good thing i am in planning mode and not ordering mode.

-hutz

I too think you'd be fine with 5.1, but if you do go with 7.1 I would suggest either M2i's or QS4's in the rear.

Qs8's all the way around man, just don't tell the significant other.

>>Since the listening area is quite small I don't want to get 4 QS8s!

Believe it or not, conventional speakers seem to work better if you have some distance between the rear speakers and the listening position, but QS speakers can be closer to the listening position and still work well. I would go with M2 rears in a big room (in fact that's what I did ) and QS rears in a small room.

One common recommendation is a single QS8 on the middle of the back wall for 6.1. That's probably not a bad choice since the most you can get on a DVD is 6.1 anyways, but there may be drawbacks I don't know about.

Having said that, all you really need is 5.1 for a room that size

Well, I will try a 5.1 system initially. This is my first theatre and my first projector purchase so I imagine that I will be floored for the first year at least. I used to live in a house with 2 other guys and we had a HT downstairs with little Athena cube speakers and i remember loving it!

So i can only imagine how much the M60s and QS8s will blow me away.

Getting an extra QS8 for the 6.1 might not be a bad idea. From what everyone is saying it is very forgiving on placement and shoots sound out pretty good, since the tweeters are at 45 degree angles I am sure it would provide pretty much the exact experience that 2 x M2s (or M3s) would give me.

I am choosing to place my QS8s at 110 degrees behind me. If I do end up getting another QS8 later, i will have to patch up the wall which kinda sucks and move the side surrounds to the 90 degree angle.

-Robb.

I just mounted my side and back surrounds last night in my little HT room that’s 12 X 16. I wanted to use a set of regular speakers for the backs for music listening more than anything, so I went with the M3’s thinking “oh they are just little speakers”. Well they are not “little” by any means and I’m regretting this brilliantly foolish idea and wishing I would have just bought four QS-8’s. Now I’ve got the M3’s mounted with the Axiom FMB’s with anchors into a wall that there is no way in hell that I’d ever be able to match the paint if I do a wall repair over the anchor holes. They look extremely out of place and not proportionate to the room size. My couch will be about 30” from the back wall and I had to angle the M3’s down (which looks stupid). And because of a door into the HT room’s bathroom on one side wall, and a window on the other side wall, I had to mount the QS-8’s 24” from the back wall and within 4” of the ceiling. They all look like crap crammed together and can only hope that the system will sound right when I fire it all up next week.

So my suggestion to you is to first cut out some cardboard templates that are the same size as the speakers you want to use. Then have someone hold them (or tape them to the wall) where you are thinking about mounting your speakers and see how it all looks. You may find that the Q’s are what you need as they don’t stick out from the wall the 12” that the M3’s do (with the brackets). The M2’s are smaller than the M3’s, but not by much.

thanks for the input mdrew, i will keep that in mind for sure.

If anything i would probably set up my 5.1 system, and mabey order 1 more QS8 for a 6.1 system.

But for now I think I will try the 5.1 setup and see how it does. I have a completly closed wall at the back of the room, so the QS8s will have a field day bouncing all their sound off the back wall, I will probably not even have the slightest need for 6.1 or 7.1. The only reason i was actually considering it is because LOTR is my favourite movie series of all time, and they all support 6.1!

Yes, I only saw 2 towers 12 times in the theatre...

-Robb.