Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Advice needed for surround speakers.

Hello All,
I am soliciting suggestions on surround speaker choices.

I need to decide on rear and side surrounds for a new 7.1 system going into my living room. I am at the point in the remodel efforts that the speaker wires for the surrounds need to be run in-wall before more cosmetic work is complete. I have narrowed my choices down to QS8's and/or W22's. My current thoughts are QS8's on the back wall and W22's on the sides. This review seemed to favor dipole rears and monopole sides, but only by a small margin: http://www.hometheatermag.com/loudspeakers/25/index.html I have several 200w per channel amps (Nakamichi, Aragon, Adcom) and will likely be purchasing an Outlaw 990 Pre/Pro.

The room is 14 feet by 22 feet with a vaulted, pine ceiling that peaks with a beam running across the room, half way between the font and back. The room is fairly bright and may need some acoustic panels placed judiciously to dampen the reflections. I can move the couch up from the back wall, but I would like to minimize how far, 4 feet perhaps.

Comments and suggestions are appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Ed

I'm a fan of the multidirectional surrounds setup.
I found the direct firing too difficult to position and not as immersive.
See my thoughts wayy back here.

Ed, welcome. The first suggestion would be yes, if possible move your listening position at least 4' from the back wall so that the back surround speakers have some room to actually create a recognizable back effect. With back speakers being present in a 7.1 setup the side surrounds don't need to be placed a little farther back to add some back effect, so they they should be directly to the side.

As to the type of surrounds, at least the side surrounds should be QSs to give a wide spread of general ambience effects. If W22s are also to be used, they would be more beneficial in back to allow a little more specific placement of movie effects which are meant to be placed directly in the rear. This isn't critical, and QSs all around are certainly a good option.