Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Rear QS8 placements for my home theater v3.0

I didn't want to hijack another thread on the subject, so I started another.

I am working on v3.0 of my home theater (finally a dedicated room like v1.0 of my home theater, yippy).... Anyway, my current setup has the surround (QS8's for me) on the back wall with my couch up against the back wall as well. (click the link in my signature for pictures) It is far from ideal, but works OK. In the new room, it isn't much deeper (going from 12 feet from front to back to 14.5 feet), but I will now have side walls to put the QS8's on. My seating will still be very close to the back wall, but not directly against it. If the listener's ears are 1 foot from the back wall, is that still a good placement guideline for putting the QS8's 1 foot from the back wall as well, or am I just still going to have to deal with a possibly less than ideal situation?

I was able to get mine on a side walls just forward of the listening position and it works real well.

Nick, for a 5.1 setup the surrounds should be a little farther back than even with the listening position so that although they're side surrounds they can provide a little rear phantom imaging. In your case, since you'll still be close to the back wall, mount them as far back as possible, which may again be on the back wall spread almost to the side walls.

I don't know if you have seen my pictures of my setup, but my QS4's are right on the back wall, and if I sit on my bed and watch a movie, they are 4 feet to the left and right of me, and about a foot above my head.

Sometimes, I think a QS4 is above my head, they do that great of a job, and that setup works great. I would definately keep them on the back wall. For me, I really like my surrounds behind me, makes everything sound more enveloping.

Another thing to consider is keeping the surrounds as low as possible, so they are very close to the height of the listener's ears. Having the surrounds high seems to make the surrounds more "ok, there is a speaker there, and a speaker there" sort of thing. You might be able to get away with that better on the side walls, on the back walls it might be too close to some of the viewer's ears at some spots.

I am not sure if you are constructing and planning to run the wires to the specific surround spots, but I would try moving the QS8's around to see what sounds best. That's the only way you will really know. Try screwing the QS8 brackets onto a piece of plywood, screw the piece of plywood to a 2x4, and you have a portable QS8! Move it around and see how it sounds in each spot.

Good luck setting up your new HT!

Nick, I would say experiment before you decide on a final position. If you follow Dolby recommendations and what Alan has discussed, you want them to be to the sides of the listeners. Normally, you want them above the listeners ears, and no more than 20-degrees in front or behind. I would not say to put them as far back as you can. The Qs8 design will allow the rear tweeter to reflect off the back wall, so you'll still get the effect as if you would mount them on the back walls.