After many hours of planning and $ over the past year, about 3 weeks ago I finally finished upgrading my living room home theater.

I was looking to improve the appearence of my prior 8 year old system and upgrade all the electronics and most of my speakers. I eliminated extra video/digital cable, an 80 lb amplifier and one huge 58” Elite RP HDTV.

I was striving for a look of simplicity and elegance, worthy of my living room.:)

BEFORE
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517954056_TixQP-L.jpg

ONLY 30+" deep!
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517960463_8egwU-L.jpg

AFTER :D
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517961960_7Wv4f-XL.jpg

MORE GOODNESS!!!

http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517962880_b9HDK-XL.jpg

http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517963664_dHJsC-XL.jpg

http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/518011180_K7xmD-XL.jpg

http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517965517_xVhng-XL.jpg

http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517966293_RnTK5-XL.jpg

LUME LIGHTING only about 2 1/2" from the wall
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517954662_UnL3N-XL.jpg

http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517955808_ehcN4-XL.jpg

Yummy custom "Roasted Maple" cabinet, built to spec (mine). Here is the remote for the Lume lights.
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517956792_DvkQz-XL.jpg

Chief mount (see power bridge outlet for Lume lights and 141)
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517957474_Foax2-XL.jpg

Here she is fully extended (23"). I have yet to watch movies this way but may in the future. It brings the 141 about 8-9' away which for BD looks swell. ;)
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517958259_9J5Wy-XL.jpg

Linn Custom 2K rear & side surrounds for 7.1.
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517958949_DPVJD-XL.jpg

http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/517959608_ihiNy-XL.jpg

Hidden JL f113 sub (also cat perch).
http://blownaway.smugmug.com/photos/518011210_FYGms-XL.jpg

That's it. If you have any questions about the specifics fire way. Enjoy!

Isn't the footprint still about 30" deep?

What surround speakers did you have before? Have you tried 7.1 with that configuration? How does it sound? With your sofa against the rear wall and the limited spacing between the sides and rears, I would think all the surround channels would just blend together and sound like one big overhead speaker.

I had the Linn AV5110 surrounds before. These sounded OK but I wanted to try 7.1 since I was getting a new receiver and most of them are 7.1 now.

I always felt the direct firing 5110's sounded too directional and not enough diffusion for my taste. The Linn Y2k surrounds have a 2 (or 3) driver array that are angled to give you more focus, plus to can turn them so the tweeters are facing the money seat (or not).

Yes, I do have a compromised location with the back wall directly behind my couch, but with the help of equalization (Audyessy), and volume tweaks and my speaker locations I get a good result. Now it sounds like more of a seamless sound field in the surrounds vs. the “in your face effect” that direct firing speakers can give you.

The upgrade is, of course, a great improvement on the appearance compared to the picture of your "old" setup and it looks simply awesome and the IQ and visual performance of the new TV is probably a zillion times better than the older one - great job on the wall mount that let's the tv go nearly flat to the wall when not in use.

Also, you have put a lot of focus and budget into sound and without question your sound system puts my simple 5:1 Onkyo to shame.

Stepping gently into the very subjective concept or definition of "Theater in the Home" I don't think you can quite get there with a television. We have a very nice 56in 1080p HDTV and it's awesome for watching television programming and for casual movie watching when the room is in a multi-purpose mode - lights up and different stuff going on - the tv does an okay job it just can't achieve "Theater" like we thought it would when we shelled out all the dollars to buy it.

Yep, we wanted to be able to go "WOW - this is just like being at the movies!!" and that wonderful television couldn't deliver - it was just a tv with external surround speakers and we were disappointed - so we mounted a big Da-lite fixed wall screen on another wall and shelf mounted a Panasonic 720p PJ across from it and - yeah! - we achieved the "WOW" and finally had Theater in our Home.

You've got a nice wall behind your wall mounted television which looks like a candidate for a pull down or motorized screen to use with a projector to get that Theater quality sound paired up with Theater quality visuals.

Once you put a Theater sized screen on that wall you will use it exclusively when you want a home Theater movie experience in your home.

Hope you don't mind the suggestions that are based on our personal experiences re tvs versus HT.