I set up a media room when we built our house and am wondering about the speaker placement - specifically the side speakers. First off, nothing is ideal about the set-up. The room is not a great shape and has two openings going out to the hall, the speakers are in-wall and not the greatest quality (Legend Audio Encore series) and I'm not using a really high-end receiver to drive them(HK DPR1001). That said I feel that I should still get better sound than I got from my cheap Sony system that I bought at Best Buy several years ago. I do not hear much in terms of surround effects and I am not sure if that is due to speaker placement or something else. Due to factors out of my control I was very limited as to where I could place me speakers and I could not really do any testing for optimal sound before placing them. Anyway, my fronts are above the television and on each side at about head level when standing. I seem to get pretty good sound out of those and get a fine stereo effect. My sides are about nine feet off the ground and a couple feet behind the main listening area. My rears are in the ceiling in an alcove about six feet behind the listening area and are only about five feet apart from eachother. I do not have a sub yet but am going to buy one soon. I am not an audiophile or anything so I am not concerned about getting great sound, just something that will let us enjoy the effects of a movie or music to some degree. However, I really don't think our current setup is providing that for us. I am going to get a new receiver (Onkyo SR702 probably) mainly because I want something that upconverts video but I don't necissarily expect that to make a big difference in terms of the audio. I can't say for sure that we are not getting the sound that we're supposed to since I do occassionally make out a sound from the side and rear speakers but even if I stand directly under them it is not very loud at all. Any suggestions?