When placing my surrounds should I 1. put them a little above and behind my listening position and 2. is it okay to place them each straight at eachother or will that cancel out the sound some?

THanX

The best place to put surround speakers is where they sound best to you.

Some general suggestions on finding the best spot depends on what kind of speakers you are using. Direct radiating (only one set of drivers) and Dipole/Bipole speakers (drivers in front and back) will determine the best location. Generally speaking, Dolby Labs suggestions are pretty good.

Direct radiating speakers are best placed about 1 foot from ceiling or about 7 to 10 feet from the floor. They should be directly to the left and right of the listening position or behind the listener.

Dipole/Bipole speakers are best placed to the sides of the listening position at about the same height.

The best placement will take some experimentation. Some pointers to keep in mind is that you basically want the surrounds to provide ambience and not call attention to the actual speaker. For this almost any position will work, some better then others.

One problem with surround speaker placement is that there is a "hole in the middle" effect, when a sound is panned from the front of the room to the rear there is a dead spot in the middle of the room. If the dead spot doesn't bother you, then almost any position will sound pretty good.