From what I've read the rear speaker placement should be on each side of the listening position, in fact I read that you were better of not having rear speakers at all then to have them behind the listener and aimed forward. I have a fireplace and window to one side and entrance hall on the other so the best place for speakers is on the back wall just behind my sectional (couch). If I'm using the QS4's or QS8's would it be a mistake to mount them on the back wall?

Normally, you want some distance between the listening area and the surrounds and back speakers. Is the couch right up against the wall, or is there some space? There are some people that still mount the Qs4 or 8's on the back wall, but place them about 4-5 ft above your heads and slightly pointing downward. On the left and right surrounds, try to place them on either side, and maybe even slightly forward of the listening area.

Good Luck

Are you doing a 5.1 set-up or a 7.1? If you're in 5.1, and you really can't place them along the side, you absolutely can put them on the back wall - you just should try and place them as much to the sides and (perhaps) a few feet above your head-level as possible. You just don't want them to be directly behind you in a 5.1.

In a 7.1, I would strongly encourage you find a way to use the surrounds along the side. That may mean getting some Axiom surround stands. Then the rear surrounds would be on the back wall, more directly behind you this time.

Hope this was helpful in some way...

My sectional is against the back wall. I could pull it out 2 maybe 3 feet from the wall but that's it. The axiom QS4's/QS8's have a similar look to Aperion's surround sound speakers. On Aperion's website they give this in the description of their surround sound speakers "the 522D-SS features a switchable dipole/bipole design that offers complete flexibility in placement and use of a surround speaker. The dipole mode offers a diffuse sound field that some experts recommend for home theater. And the bipole mode can be used for multi-channel music or home theater installations that require placement behind the listener." So I wanted to know if Axiom's surround speakers would also work well for this, or if this kind of speaker placement is bad with any kind of speaker?

It's a 5.1 setup because I can't afford the extra speakers plus I have no where to put them.

The Axiom surrounds are actually quite different from the Aperion ones in one important respect - there are 4 drivers, not 2. There are the two you can see facing at (roughly) 45 degrees to the sides, but there are also upwards and downwards firing drivers. Also, so far as I know, the Axioms are not switchable in this respect.

That said, the Axioms are VERY forgiving on placement. I just went through this process myself (indeed, I asked a question very much like your own on these forums last week), and there are very few places where they won't work reasonably well.

As I mentioned above, you can put the Axiom surrounds on the wall behind you - but I wouldn't suggest directly behind - spread them out and up if possible, and you should be fine.

If you can move your sofa off the back wall 3ft and put the Qs above and slightly behind the main listening area that would be great.
As stated above the Qs are a very forgiving speaker placement wise.

Since my couch is a sectional one of the side facing speakers would be facing the back of it but at 36" the QSS stands are just high enough for the speaker to clear the back of the sectional. I still don't know what I'm going to do but thanks to everyone for the help.

Hiya Charlie. Here's what the Axiom FAQ has to say about the subject:

Where should I place my surround speakers?
Ideally, surround speakers should be either wall-mounted or stand-mounted to either side of the couch or primary listening area, from one to six feet higher than seated listeners' ears, and slightly forward or rearwards of the listening area if you wish. Axiom's Quadpolar surrounds are especially versatile and can yield excellent performance with stand or wall-mounting to the rear as well as at side locations. (see our dedicated stands for the QS Surround speakers in the Store). Rear center speakers for 6.1 and 7.1 installations are intended to go on the rear wall at about the same height as the surround speakers.

Hi Charlie,

I had really good success with the QS8's in an application similar to yours (sofa against the back wall, 5.1 surrounds mounted on that wall). The speakers were mounted to the sides of the couch, not directly behind it, and a couple feet above the listening position. It sounded just great. Mount them on the wall instead of using the stands if you can; cheaper and better, IMO.

There's a good piece on speaker placement here:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/loudspeakerplacement01.php

It specifically adressess quadpolar surrounds, like Axoim's. None of these "rules" are set in stone, by any stretch of the imagination. They're more like guidelines.

Believe it or not, surround speaker placement is still hotly debated in the industry.

This is scary because the assumptions used will dictate monitor placement in the mixing studio and hence what the mixing engineer hears. If this conflicts with your surround placement you may not hear what the engineer intended.

Some like Tom Holman (THX chief) and Wendy Carlos strongly advocate about 90 to 110 degree placement. These two are very vocal and critical of other placements.

Others like the Grammy Arts & Sciences wing strongly advocate more rearward placement.

In my limited experiments, I like about 90-110 degrees seems best, which is the ITU recommendation.

A big factor is your chair or sofa design. If you have a recliner or anything behind your head that blocks sound from the rear, you definitely don't want rear surround speaker placement.

In general the QS4/QS8 are not as placement critical as other speakers. I think back wall mounting can work out OK. You have to be practical, and balance aesthetics and acoustics.

Wendy Carlos surround discussion

Dolby recommendations

Tom Holman (THX chief) recommendations

Grammy Arts & Sciences recommendations (PDF)

Charlie, welcome. What you say that you read would appear to be incorrect. With the couch up close to the back wall there's little difference between having the side surround speakers on the side walls close to the back wall or on the back wall close to the side walls. This is especially the case with speakers having very wide dispersion, such as the Axiom QSs. Put them on the back wall about 2-3' above ear level and spread widely, maybe to about 1' from the side walls(or where they'd be) and facing straight forward.