How high the rears?

Blindjim,

I agree with your point about it being a matter of preference; I disagree that mounting speakers on a ladder and watching a film is sufficient. I suspect I'll have to live with a setup for awhile to develop a preference. Since I have no experience with rear speakers, just 5.1, I sought the opinions of those who do have such experience to use as a starting point. As with all things audio, it was easy to predict there would be diverse opinions, and, of course, there are.

I've moved my side speakers down from close to the ceiling to a bit above ear level, because multi-channel music is as important for me as films. I think I'll start with the rears a bit higher than the sides, and live with that awhile.

db

The orginal posters room size is not huge , its similar to mine. I would suggest just above ear level. Otherwise in a room that size the surround sound can completely go over your head. If we all had Lucas size Home Theater rooms that would be a different story . But this room is smaller , also we have no idea how high the ceiling is.

I would experimanet a bit before making anything permanent

I knew there were others that would agree with me.

Smaller rooms are more suited for above ear (high on wall) placement because as they are small they will be close and call attention to themselves, placing them high will be more ambient in a smaller room. You want ambient not direct.

Visit ASC(acoustic science corp) website.Speakers are placed 20% of height of ceiling to center of midrange driver and also a lower placement possible but forget the dimension.This is for dipoles I believe.I agree with Chadnliz you want ambient not direct.Search Paradigm speaker website article Dipole Confusion for more information also.