7.1 in a Family Room...is it worth it ?

[hanser]

If your sofa is directly on the back wall, 5.1. is the right way, in my opinion. Otherwise you probably will localize the back surrounds too much since they are too close.

I have a similar situation as yours. I tried 7.1 and is was distracting.

I would mount the surround speakers a bit higher than ear level and not directly pointing to the sofa.