Finally! If all goes as planned I'll be ordering a pair of QS8s to accompany my M22s within the next week or so. It was either upgrade my old centre to a VP-150, or get QS8s. I'm guessing that bang-for-the-buck says go QS8.

Now the hard part. I know from reading the forum that QS8 "are very forgiving" in terms of placement, so a few inches one way or another really wouldn't make a huge difference, but I'm considering changing my room around anyway, so thought that I'd ask for input.

Click for the 2D/3D simulation.

Looking out the window is East, so direct light isn't an issue. The room is pretty well in ground - only the windows have air space outside, as there's a lattice covered window well in the yard. Don't know what the correct term for that is.

The dimensions are pretty close to accurate, so yes, Mark does have competition for the square room.

So would you put the QS8 just right of the closet (and directly opposite) as in the "After" portion of the image, or maybe a bit more left, toward the screen, and perhaps above the closet doors? 9' ceiling in the room, so there's some space there and a good 2x4 for securing the speaker.

The little sub will likely move from one corner to the other.

There's a powder room adjacent to the wall opposing the closet, and the garage is on your left as you walk into the room, so it's on the other side of the wall where the TV will be "after".

Thoughts?

My QS8's were right next to the couch ( QS8 -> COUCH <- QS8 )

So QS8's were literally within two feet of the head/ear. No issues.

Now, due to WAF, I had to move the QS8's back about 8 feet. I haven't had a chance to run Audyssey so I haven't calibrated them yet. However, I would say it should be fine.

QS8's truly are very forgiving.

How big are the windows in the back? I might be tempted to put them on the back wall instead of the side walls.

The windows aren't too big Tom. The bottom of the window holes is probably at about the 6'6" mark. I'd have to measure later when I get home.

My only concern there is running the speaker wire in the wall under the window as it's an exterior and below grade wall, I don't know what I'll encounter there. Might not be a problem, but the side walls, especially closet side, are less risky. I'm no carpenter/framer.

Would prefer to run wire in-wall, rather than apply flat speaker wire on the drywall.

Valid concerns, for sure. But if the bottom of the windows is really that high, I'd see about putting them on the back wall maybe 12-18" from the corners.

I'm sure they'll be great in any of those three locations.

This isn't helping, is it?

LOL! It all helps Tom, and I appreciate the input.

I suppose that it comes down to real world test session with a couple of ladders and/or some extra hands, as has been recommended in the past. Alan's advice, iirc.

Thought that it was worth asking the question anyway. I know of the Dolby diagrams with the angles for 5.1 placement. I don't think that I'd ever do 7.1 in that room.

Finally got a Bluray player for Christmas, but was horrified to hear how badly my old Paradigm sub performs with the new codecs. Had to throttle down the output level to stop the distortion.

But at the moment I can afford surrounds, not a good sub.

Yeah, 7.1 in that room would be stoopyd.

I'm surprised your Paradigm harshed you out.

QS8's are really pretty freaking cool.

I think that mere portions of maybe 5 of my DVDs showed the limits of the sub: U-571, Master & Commander, the quick tap on the aquarium in Finding Nemo, that sort of thing.

The Dark Knight BR disc slaughtered the poor PDR-8 from beginning to end. Holy unwanted noises Batman!

LOL!

Didn't you say the garage is behind the new "front" wall? Perhaps a big, stealthy IB installation.

Pushing the limits of WAF: "Sorry honey but you can't park your vehicle in the garage now, thanks to the twin EP800s that Tom and I custom fitted into the garage wall. You know that I couldn't give up the space in the family room."

Yeah, that'll go over well.

Krunch, the surrounds should be farther to the right, not left. They should be if possible a couple feet farther back than directly to the side of your ears, to lend a little "phantom" back effect in the absence of back surround speakers in a 7.1 setup. So, if they'll be mounted on the side walls, make it as close to the back wall as possible(just a few inches away is okay). That and/or possibly moving the couch a foot or so forward should give you a better surround effect.

That's the great thing about IB. You don't need garage space for cabinets, just for the woofer cones and magnets. On the other hand, most people take advantage of this fact to get REALLY big woofer cones and magnets

There are all kinds of good ideas here :

http://home.comcast.net/~infinitelybaffled/page3IB-Gallery3.html

http://home.comcast.net/~infinitelybaffled/page4IB-Gallery3.html

That reminds me (seeing as it's really cold out tonight)... what is the R-factor of a woofer cone ?

We now return to our regularly scheduled thread topic.

No reason why the IB manifold or the sub enclosure can't be ABOVE the car.

I think that the real dimensions of the room and the furniture that I've got to live with for a while will restrict the options to keeping the sofa quite close to the rear wall, but I there's nothing preventing the QS8s from being six inches or so from the rear wall. Thanks for point that out JohnK.

As for the Infinite Baffle sub, I must have encountered such discussions before in my HT education, but probably brushed it off at the time as that sort of thing wasn't previously an option. But with the links (and thanks for those bridgman), now I know exactly what you were referring to Tom. And yes, that is most definitely an interesting option to explore.

Now I know what I'll be reading about tonight.

Welcome to the world of extreme subs. Starting with bridgman's links, I've spent a hour or so investigating this end of the hobby.

IB build thread over at AVS.

Check out the Kung Fu Panda and Saturn V rocket videos. Crazy.

Even though I've got an end unit, and the sound system is below ground, This Is Not Happening in my townhouse.

Good stuff. If I ever feel the need for more bass, I imagine I'll have to go down that road.

IB isn't necessarily about more bass, but lower bass. Like being able to have the room pressurized at 5 Hz.

I'm going the tactile route to get those freqs though.

FWIW, the windows openings are 17" high. Coincidentally the bottom of the window is exactly 6'6" from the floor, and the top of the window is 13" from the ceiling.

Lower would be the more I would want. What tactile option are you going for? I'm kind of wanting them to come out with newer versions of those before I jump in.

I'm sure the QS8's would work on either the side walls (farther back, as John suggested) or on the back wall.

My comments are necessarily colored by my experience. I previously had "the couch against the back wall" and the QS8's mounted above/behind the couch on the back wall. I thought it worked VERY well.

I understand your concern about the wiring and the elegance of the installation. It'll be great whatever you decide. Have fun!

Well, if Buttkicker can ever get their next batch of amps together (who'd-a-though that 2100 Watts stable into 2 Ohms would be a problem?) I'm getting one of those. I actually have the LFE kit* ordered, but waiting for them to start shipping again.


*Their newest model is down on power and features**, the old one is still the best.


**Well they added an EQ, wireless, and remote control, but cut the power by 1/4 and removed the low-pass filter.

I would definitely like to try a Buttkicker setup out. Still interested in D-Box, too, but I doubt I'll ever want to pony up the cash for something that seems to annoy some people.

My fear about D-Box is that they company will go bust, and without them to be writing the motion codes, you'll by stuck with a ButtKicker that cost 5x as much. The ButtKicker will always work as long as Hollywood keeps pumping out LFE tracks.

Very good point.