Surround placement for a very wide room (1 Viewer)

[Tim86]

Looking for advice on placement of the surrounds and subs. I'm planning a 5.2 setup to start. I will eventually expand it to an Atmos setup but probably not for another year or two.
I just moved into this home and I'm setting up my home theater in the basement. The room is very wide and open on the sides of the space we have for the home theater. Placement of the TV is pretty much set. Wife and I agree for various reasons that no other wall works as well as this one for the TV. I already have the subs placed roughly as shown in the attached sketches. I think they sound good for my untrained ears, but if it's worthwhile to try a different layout, let me know.
My biggest question is on the positioning of the surrounds. I'll need to mount them to the wall, but I'm not sure how high or wide to put them. Also, I already have some JBL ES20 bookshelf speakers available. Would those be fine for surrounds if I mount them far apart? Or should I switch to some type of bipole instead, and place them a little closer to each other?

Note, my ES20 bookshelf speakers are currently shown in the picture where my towers will go, once I select and purchase them!

 

[Tim86]

Not sure why I can't edit my original post, but here are some new photos with the Klipsch RP-8000F II towers I just bought. I'm a little bummed nobody has replied yet...I was hoping this forum would be more active. I mainly just need advice on the side surround type and positioning. I'm not too worried about the subs as they sound really good where I have them.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Unless you're committed to wall mounting them, I would consider stand mounting them at ear level just to the left and slightly behind the chair and to the right of the corner of the couch.

 

[Tim86]

Unless you're committed to wall mounting them, I would consider stand mounting them at ear level just to the left and slightly behind the chair and to the right of the corner of the couch.

Stand-mounting is probably a last resort if there are no good wall options. We have a couple dogs that like to roughhouse around there. They stay away from the front speaker area, but it will be hard keeping them away from the area you suggest, unfortunately.
If I wall-mount, what would be recommended?
By the way, I'm not opposed to wall-mounting on the extreme far left and right walls if those are best. But I don't know if those locations would be too far away? Is mounting to the back wall behind the seating better?

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Mounting above the couch and pointing down is certainly an option. My first setup many years ago was like that as the couch was against the back wall. It's a compromise, but all setups contain compromises.

 

[Tim86]

Mounting above the couch and pointing down is certainly an option. My first setup many years ago was like that as the couch was against the back wall. It's a compromise, but all setups contain compromises.

I went with this option as it seemed to have the least amount of compromises while keeping the speakers safe from the dogs. Slightly behind and above the main listening positions. The extreme far walls on each side seemed too far away. This made more sense, I think. I only gave a brief listen test but I thought they sounded great. Thanks for the advice!!!

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Glad to hear it worked out. That’s almost exactly the placement I used in my similar situation.