A question on speaker placement for home theater. I think I'm ok with the fronts, center and sub, but have a dilemma with the surrounds. I will be using the qs4s or qs8s. I have a long (approx. 18 to 20ft. long) narrow room (approx. 14 to 15 ft wide). I can't place the surrounds to the side of the listening area, because one side of the sofa is the walkway to the dining room. As a result, I really have three options for placement. I could place them both right behind the couch on stands (but my wife doesn't want them there, as she thinks they will look "tacky"). I could place them both up against the back wall behind the sofa, however, this is about eight feet away and I'm not sure if that's too far. Also, with that placement they would only be about 4 feet apart from each other which I don't know if it is too close. Finally, I could place one in a corner on one side about four feet behind and a couple feet to the side of the listening area, place the second up against that back wall eight feet away and adjust the delay on the receiver to compensate for the difference in distance. If anyone has a suggestion, I would certainly appreciate it.

I would go for the back wall that is 8' away. The distance of 4' apart is a bit close but the effect of the rears that far back will actually be quite good. If you can put side channels slightly in front of your listening area on the sidewalls this would round out your system beautifully.

Ian Colquhoun
President & Chief Engineer

Ian,
I'm facing a dilema with the placement of my surrounds as well. My listening/watching are is 12X15 and the couch is directly against one of the 12ft walls. the room is in the basement and has 7 ft ceilings. I have a side wall about 2 feet away on one side of the couch and nothing on the other side (it opens to the rest of the room) Where would I place the surrounds?

I assume you are setting up a 5.1 system so you are not trying to mount both rear and side channels. By utilizing one of our quadpolar designs you should put the surrounds on the 12' wall on each side of your listening couch. They should be about 1' down from the ceiling. If you are looking to put in side channels also, our new mounting bracket that will be available in a couple of months will allow for mounting any of our quadpolar surrounds to the ceiling.