I have 18' ceilings and one side of my living room is open, so I need to drop a surround speaker down about 8ft or so... since this will be in the middle of the room, I'd like some kind of retractable solution. Anyone have any ideas where to start, or will this be a 100% custom solution on my end?

sounds like a very nice engineering challenge.

Get to building!

I'm sure you have a reason but why not just put them on stands, raising them from the floor to ear level or so?

I wanted to avoid stands b/c the one surround speaker would literally be standing by itself in the middle of a large room - in the way, and would look quite strange. I also don't have the ability to run cables under the hard wood floors.

How far from the back wall would the surrounds be sticking out?

The first thing that popped into my head was something similar to the extentions that are used for ceiling fans. While not retractable, they are pretty much "pre-hardwared" for dropping cable down and supporting a heavy load.
Just a thought.

Do they have to be retractable, possibly use some nice steel cables to hang them from the ceiling or 40lb fishing line, they would appear to be floating. But for this idea to work you have to be willing to thread in some eye bolts in the tops/sides of the speakers.

This just doesn't seem feasible to me. The fishing line idea might be do-able, but would probably not look that great. There's also the issue of the speaker "swaying" in the breeze. Does anyone know if the expulsion of air due to the vibration of the cones would make the speaker sway? Physics tells me it would, but I guess it would depend on the mass of the speaker relative to the force generated by the wave coming out of the speaker cone.

If you are willing to engage in pre-listening "set up" - (i.e., engaging the surrounds by "unretracting" them) - then why not simply run some bare wire to the speaker, set it up on a stand, then store it close to a wall. Move it out into the middle of the room only when in use.

I guess I'm not very creative, but your solution sounds like a very complex (and expensive) custom job.

I was thinking that if he was setting up the surround near the rear wall he could mount a swing arm the would swing out and lock when in use. It would probably need to be above head level so people could walk below it if needed. When not in use, unlock it and swing back to the rear wall.

The speaker would be at least 7 feet from the rear wall, which has a closet, so it would still higher than I'd like. I want it retractable b/c I have 18' ceilings with 10 ft tall 6' wide windows along the one wall, and want to maintain the open, airy feeling when not using the speaker.

Using a stand and simply moving it out of the way is a consideration, but not elegant for the amount of money I'm putting into my entertainment setup, plus it's still in the way when in use. The ceiling solution would allow people unrestricted motion in the room even while in use. That area would be a high traffic area with more than a few people over.

As for the potential for movement while in use... I don't see this as an issue, especially since the Q8's mids are on the top and bottom.

Have you looked at modifying a “projector lift.” If you can’t or don’t want to use one it might at least give you another idea on how to DIY it.

I can't wait to see this one when it's finished. Good luck.

I have an 8000 pound winch I might be selling. Instead of using it to drop the speakers, you could lift you seating platform up to ear levels with the speakers near the ceiling. Also solves any screen viewing angles you might have.