All this has been good reading. Question of my own: just received the 950/7100 combo and need to find rear surrounds for the "6th and 7th" of the "7.1"

Placement of the rears is tricky: back "wall" is the stairs of an open stairwell. Only 2 choices present themselves to me. One, hang the speakers from the ceiling or two, place 'em on the floor (with/without stands??). Either choice will still screw up symetrical placement due to the banister location( for floor) or the stairwell opening in the ceiling for the stairs (can't place it past the stairwell ceiling opening or some tall Hollander would bean themselves). Either placement will put the speakers approx. 5 feet behind my listening position.

Kevin B. et al on another thread suggested monopole speakers which I will do. Current speakers are all Cambridge Audio (Ensembles for the front stereo pair). Cambridge told me that they no longer make these but could substitute a pair of Movieworks that were quite similar sonically to the Ensembles.

Question: do I take Cambridge(these, like the Outlaw's are returnable for up to 45 days no questions asked) up on these or can I/should I look for other brand speakers? I have heard the Paradigm Cinema ADP's which are similar spec and size-wise to my front speakers except for the low freq. cut-off (mine-80 Hz, Para's- 100Hz) and they sound nice in the showroom. Also, I've read specs and reviews about Rockets and they sound interesting - probably the RS150's. These would be different from my fronts: ported, freq. resp. down to 48Hz (which I could adjust with the 950), 4X the volume and not workable in my situation to mounting from the ceiling--have to be on the floor (stands??) and very asymmetrical to my listening position (one would be 30 degrees off axis to my position and 5 feet away while the other would be 60 degrees off and 8 feet away).

Need suggestions--HELP-- since I've never worked with a 7.1 set-up's rear surrounds.


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