Wow, awesome advice and no stupidity like I expect from AVS. Thanks guys.
Re: construction...
The left wall with long window is an exterior wall (obviously) and has insulation in it. The right wall with the large opening is interior and hollow. The lower 4 ft of the walls (painted darker brown) I believe has framing in front of cinder block, but I'm not 100% sure on this. There are outlets on that wall and I highly doubt they flushed the boxes into cinder block or concrete, nor do I think they ran romex through it, so I'm guessing it's 2x4's in front of cinder block.
As you all can see, yes there is a lot of soft with the chairs. The rear row is eventually going to be up on a 20" riser as well, which should help break up the "air" a bit more. The carpet is also a fairly deep / long pile, almost like shag but not that furry.
When I first listened to the M60s in there, with chairs in place but without the sub or surround turned on, I thought I was hearing sounds behind me even though the QS8s weren't hooked up yet. I'm guessing this is due to either "good" reflections or just the fantastic sound stage of the M60s.
Source was HD-DVD of Planet Earth, the first episode.
I think that some of the reason I'm not having too much of a problem from the sides is that the right side of the room has the big opening to the laundry, stairs, and bathroom. I will probably hang a thick curtain there eventually for light purposes, but it will probably cut down reflections a bit as well.
I do have a few pieces of movie-theater art that I'm going to hang that should help with diffraction, they're 3d and metal, but they don't have that much mass.
JohnK: re: the rears for 7.1, you really feel they should be on the back wall instead of hanging from the ceiling? I've seen the dolby positioning diagrams, and to have them at ~150-135 degrees for the sweet spot, they end up nearly in the back corners of the room. I was thinking they may work better if I hang them behind the 2nd row of seating instead of on the back wall, simply because the back wall is going to be too high if I want them to clear the door. (That door is open most of the time as you see in the picture.) There's quite a bit of space from the back row to the rear wall, and there's even more space from the front row to the rear wall. I Could cut it down by hanging them behind the back row... although then I'm cutting into the ceiling for wiring (ick).
Since I'm posting... Does Axiom offer a credit if I want to trade-up to the M80s? I'm actually still within my 30-day eval window I believe...
