speaker placement!

[admin_exported]

Hi, ive got my sony lcd KDL40W4000 above the fire surround ( the fire surround height being 107 cm) with a 15cm gap to the bottom of the tv edge so enough room for the centre speaker to go under the tv onto the mantle piece shelf fine. But not sure where to position the front L&R sats( Im looking at the boston acoustics xs at the mo to buy) Our sofa is dead opposite the screen 8ft approx away .The top of our head in a seating position being level approx with the top of the mantle piece shelf or bottom of center speaker. Does all the speakers have to be the same height as each other. Can the rears be lower or higher than the fronts? Help would be very helpful as i want to get the positioning right when i make this big purchase. May consider get this system with 2 extra sats for 7.1! The amps im going to listen to are yamaha RXV667 and Onkyo TXSR608. Many thanks

 

[JC1982]

I believe that the fronts are supposed to be at ear height (all at the same height) and the rears are supposed to be a foot or two above ear level to create the best surround effect. There's some guidelines for speaker positioning on the Dolby website I think.