best location for rear home theater speakers high or ear level?

Answer 1

A lot depends on the speakers and also the channel they are playing (rear can be surround speakers in 5.1 or 5.2 channel setup and rear can be surround back speaker(s) in 6.1, 7.1 etc.)

They should be higher than ear level so that they don't over power your fronts and also for more enveloping sound.

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Answer 2

I prefer ear-level if possible.

Dolby suggest 3-5 feet above your head - but this came out back when they were pushing pro-logic for years and to change would be to admit they were wrong.

But you have to make sure to have 3-5 feet distance for people sitting at the edges of the couch. Sometimes you can only do this by putting the rears up high.