Yeah, Mike; although it's been said(with good reason)how "forgiving" the QSs are with respect to positioning, the less that they have to "forgive" the better. So, for a 7.1 setup with back surround speakers the side surrounds should be as directly to the side as possible, since no "phantom" back surround help from the side surround speakers is needed.
At least until the day when we have still more discrete channels available(and as I've commented before, the room is so filled with speakers that there's no room for humans, just an Audyssey microphone at the sweet spot)the height material will be extracted ambience(which is "real", of course)which is best presented from an upward angle.
