The pair I bought at auction arrived today. Didn't save as much as I would have liked but...
I didn't want to wait to hear them so did what many of you will frown at. I removed my left and right speakers, swapped out taller stands, stacked some empty DS cases on the sides of each one and turned the receiver on.
My first thought was my old mains really sucked. I didn't have to listen for the difference,it was evident right away. They must have been really bad because these sound better with out facing the listener.
I was surprised how much more base these had when compared with the speakers I removed. It could be because thees only 3" between the bottom and the stand.
We listened to quite a few random songs and watched the last half of a movie we started late last night.
I'm exited.
Can't wait till the color samples show up so I can place my order for the new fronts and center.
I am thinking the new surrounds might have to wait but based on how these sound I know it will be worth it.

You experimented with speakers? Certainly nobody will frown on that.

::Frown::Frown::Frown::Frown

I'm very happy with them.

Well, almost nobody.
In his defense though, he is having a bad day. There are kids on his lawn.

::Shakes Fist::

There's 4" of snow on my lawn.

You in Calgary?

NE B.C.

My 20' palm tree is a little wet this morning, but happy now after our 2 month drought.

Snow up in the hills, tho...

TAM

only plastic palm trees here.

I just listened to "its going to be a heartache tonight?" and heard a drum reverberate? for the first time...on 2.1 stereo with my QS4's. Wow.
I can not wait until our new speakers arrive.
We've listened to this song so many times and never felt like the drum was in front of me...QS4's!

Rock of ages was a bit rough. Had to turn it off once.
I ended up placing the QS4's on my tallest stands sitting on my old fronts (which are on their side) 2' in front of my screen, off the corners, angled so center of each is at 30°.
It works.
I found my current rears having coloration?, sound off the side of the cabinet, actually helped with the surround (rear surrounds are at 90° but face the back roughly 10° off the side walls).
Still working on making what I have better while I wait.
Sounds pretty good now.
By Chirstmas M22's are going to relace the QS4's which will go to the sides until end of quarter 4.

If I'm careful I can squeeze 3"above the top of the QS4 which has to go above a door. The roofs vaulted so I'll gain an inch on the front on the speaker.
Is this going to be worth running wires?
If I want 7. its kinda gotta go there.
It'll be 2-2 1/2 feet too high but....

It sounds like it's feasible in your space too expand to R/S. You have all ready scoped thing out, and have a mind set to do it, so you might want to try it. As to needing to be placed higher, with these speakers (QS4's) being diffused, it would be less discerning on the sound.

Question though, have you ever considered F/H speakers? According to Audyssey which claims, F/H speakers are preferable over R/S speakers. It has to do with the sound coming at us from in front vs behind us. The way the human ear is structured, audibly this would be more beneficial.

I'm slowly working towards 9 or 11 channels.
My reciever allows 2 different 7.2 layouts, one with front presence, one with rear surrounds.
I'm going to have 6 QS4's for all my surrounds soon. I haven't decided on the placement yet. Because they are supposed to be forgiving of placement I may try placing the side surrounds at 85°, the rear surrounds at 115° and the presence at 55° all at 5'6" off the floor. These would end up roughly 5' apart in my living room. I've decided against placing them a over the (exterior) door.
The new reciever has to wait. I'll have to suffer with 7.2 until my third sub arrives ;-) (its a tear, not a wink)

I should clarify...I currently use all 9 speakers in various DSP modes.
The good news is as we actually watch 1 movie a week together, and while doing so we move the love seat 18" closer to the TV, we will have QS4's at 90 degrees, 120 degrees and 60 degrees(front presence).I'm exited to place these (front presence)where they don't belong, just to see how it sounds.
TV watching the rest of the week will mean the speakers are at the positions stated in my last post.

So....why no QS8s? They are the shnitz!

Room size.
I may go QS8's for my sides. I do like that I would have the same size woofers as the L/C/R's.
The QS4's I have now will go up this weekend and I'll see how the do at 85°, 90°, 110° and 115°. 1 position per rear and rear surrond.
I do agree front presence ussually offers a better feel or realism but it does depend on the content.
I'm still moving my front precense around. I'll put the QS4's up front this weekend too.
My old stands are going to be intoduced to a 5 1/2" hole saw and then I'm going to stack the tall stands on my short stands on my old fronts to get closer to the height the will be mounted at. A pair of old center channels are currently filling the R/L positions.

there is not a huge difference in overall size, but huge difference in performance.

I got them up and turned it on. Ended up being tall stand old fronts short stand with hole at the top with QS4's 1.5" from the wall (will change).
At 90° its not quite what I was expecting but I still need to run YPAO.
I am happy that the speaker shuffling and the bs that goes with it is almost over.
We got our samples today but we'll probably wait until after the weekend to order. I want to play a few more movies with these at various heights and locations before deciding what goes where.
I'm a little hung up on using M22's as rears and front right and left knowing they will be better than the towers they'll be replacing and don't require holes in the wall. Having freedom to move them around is competing with being free of stands.
YPAO and the second half of Terminator Salvation tomorrow...

5'8" high atm