Hi Sean,

 Though we generally reccomend that the surround speakers be placed above ear level , we certainly understand that it's not always possible. Given that the surrounds will be placed at ear level and directly to your side, there is a high probability that the more dispersed nature of the dipole may be of benefit. My concern here is that you have a wall that will butt up against the rear facing drivers of the 534-SS. This will generate some refraction off the wall that may or may not adversely effect the performance of the speaker when in Dipole mode. My educated guess is that much will depend on how close they are to the listening area.

 I, too, have my couch right against a wall. There's just no other option in this particular room. I've tried the 422-LR and 532-LR speakers placed above ear level and off to the sides. The effect was great, but I wasn't pleased with the location of the speakers. I changed to the 534-SS but could not place them to the sides so I mounted them on the rear wall, trusting that I would get some side wall refraction and generally less directional surround effect. I'm really pleased with the results.

Bear in mind that the 534-SS functions best when placed on a wall and that, when necessary,  stand mounting needs to be done with care as the speaker cabinet is a trapezoid and doesn't have a security insert on the bottom. You'll want to make sure the platform it sits on is large enough to support the odd shape of the speaker. You may also want to use velcro or some other security measure to ensure that the speaker can't just slide off the stand.

This brings up a question I had for all the forum participants: I'm pretty certain that I saw a thread that included pics of folks that used their 534-SS on stands, what it looked like and even a link to the merchant(s) that offered them. I can't seem to pull it up. Anyone recall that thread?