Jonathan, welcome back. See that you're still in Florida, but where you been the past couple years? Sure, Alan is still with us and replies when he has the chance. We won't hate you(well, maybe a little for those MLs), but your description of the proposed arrangement is a bit hard to follow. For the first point, the QS8s as side surrounds in a 7.1 setup should ideally be about 2-3' above ear level and directly to the side of the listening position. Alan has just recently re-emphasized their placement flexibility, however, and if you have to place them as described(you might clarify the description a bit), they wouldn't really have any problem simply because of being too close to the ceiling.
