I have mine on top a cabinet, directly opposite from the front center channel. In my set-up, it's behind the rear surrounds a little. It works pretty good on some movies. Yes, your correct about it just being one speaker short. My RX-V750 has 7.1 but I don't have the space for 2 more speakers so I moved my old front center channel to the rear, where it's not as critical. It hooks to the left rear/rear connection.