I ordered a set of QS8's and currently have a 5.1 system right now. I don't see the need for 6.1/7.1 with the minimal support from Movies. I was wondering if there's an advantage of mounting the Surrounds at the Sides vs the Rear? Either place that I mount the surrounds, they'll be on the ceiling facing towards the listeners. Both mounting options will be the same distance from the listeners as well.
Alex, the surrounds in a 5.1 setup should be placed a little(maybe 2')farther back than the listening position, to help lend a little more back surround effect in the absence of back speakers. Since they're still side surrounds they should be separated as much as possible, almost to the side walls, although they're ceiling mounted. From your description, being at the sides(again though, farther back than directly to the sides)might sound a bit better.
How far back from the listeners were you planning on mounting them? For 5.1, my rears are mounted 12 feet behind the sweet spot and they sound very different than my sides that are 12 feet away. for 5.1, for PLII music I prefer the sides. For movies, I prefer the rears.
I will mount them 5ft back and 8ft high.
If I mount them to the sides they'll be 4ft and 8ft with them being 8ft high as well.
What are your room dimensions? I was dealing with the inability to put my QS8s on side walls for a while, so they were on my back wall, but my couch was on the back wall as well. This was OK, as the QS8s do a great job, but now, they are in the new dedicated home theater room and on the side walls and I like them a lot more. Now, if my room was just a little deeper, I could put them a little further behind the listening area, bit still, they are better, for my situation, on the side walls.
when you say ceiling, do you mean mounted with a bracket? or do you want the QS8s to be flush with the ceiling? I would recommend using Axioms FMCB for ceiling mounting, or just use the supplied brackets for wall mounting on the sides.
I'm going to be using the Axiom Wall mounted brackets and I'll have them maybe a foot from the roof........maybe closer.
Alex, I strongly recommend that you experiment with both positions. This should not be hard to do if you make the right provisions. As I mentioned, for me, movies sound better with the rears while simulated surround sounds better with the sides.
I agree, don't just assume a permanent location up front. As Alan always said, get ourself a couple of tall step ladders and try various positions to see what works best, then make it permanent....
Alex, I’m with the experiment if you can group. I spent about a month and a half moving mine around and found that in my room with rectangular walls in the back they sounded best in the back corners with the tweeters pointing parallel to the walls. That put them about 5 feet behind and 5 feet to the sides of the sweet spot. I’m talking night and day difference than having them on the sides or the back.
I also noticed that placing them either near the ceiling or lower on stands didn’t make much difference for movies but having them at ear level greatly improved the directional cues in video games.
That's good input, Dean. I've always suspected that they would sound best the way you installed them.