I have a 42" Panny plasma and fugly clunky Onkyo HTIB with black speakers. I used to have a big projection sitting on a huge entertainment center I built which is kiddie-corner, taking up tons of room, and has like 5sqft of dead space behind it.

I'd like to hang my plasma on the wall for wow factor (and to save space) but don't know what to do about the speakers or components. I can build an entertainment center or TV stand but once you put the huge speakers on it it looks bad and sound is much lower than the TV height (and not far enough apart).

What do you suggest?
1) leave TV kiddie corner, build shallow entertainment center, sacrifice sound quality/surround sound by keeping speakers in the tv stand. leaves room to buy a big chair and ottoman for other corner.
2) hang TV on center wall and put tv stand beneath it and hide speakers in it or put speakers on top of it or buy in-wall speakers to install in wall. i'd like to hang tv but not sure how to handle speakers or stereo.
3) build built-in bookcase and either sit tv in center or still hang on wall. that way speakers can be at corners of room in side bookcases but this takes up tons of space
4) some other option (shelving, different speakers, something creative)?

here are some pics/possibilities that i have been considering. are there any websites of installs and furniture solutions?
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/tvstand.jpg
looks good but once i add my huge speakers to left and right of tv will look bad. maybe can incorporate front left/right speakers into stand kinda like my current one is but speakers would be low to ground.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/tvstand2.jpg
don't like the towers on left and right look plus would dominate my room.
http://www.michaelsav.com/images/photos_1bg.jpg
this looks horrible and what i'd like to avoid if i do a wall install.
http://www.wsfeldt.com/components/images/jensen/fullpics/fincon-bookcase-wide-lg.jpg
this is kinda what i mean by built-in bookcase although it would be more basic (shelving on top, cabinets on bottom)


here are pics of my family room so you can see the amount of room and the wall space and the current tv stand i built for my old projection tv.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/familyroom1.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/familyroom2.jpg

couple of questions:

1. What kind of speakers do you have?
2. would the built in wall shelves go on the wall with the flower painting? if so is there enough clearance (depth) between that wall and the window to put a bookshelf?
3. is that a bay window?
4. are your walls double wall construction which would allow for inwall speakers?
5. can you sketch up some dimensions?

couple of questions:

1. What kind of speakers do you have?
2. would the built in wall shelves go on the wall with the flower painting? if so is there enough clearance (depth) between that wall and the window to put a bookshelf?
3. is that a bay window?
4. are your walls double wall construction which would allow for inwall speakers?
5. can you sketch up some dimensions?

1) right now i have an onkyo htib with big black speakers (you can see the left/right IN my entertainment center and the surrounds sitting ON the entertainment center in the picture. considering maybe getting in-wall (and in-ceiling for surrounds) but my sound will probably suffer but that's not a biggie.
2) yes, bookcase would go on that wall. window probably isn't far enough away so i'd have to stop the bookcase before it got to the complete end of the wall. the ugly flower painting is definitely leaving.
3) yes there's like a window seat bay window thing.
4) hmm not sure. a bathroom is on the other side of the wall. the wall is like oak paneling. figure in-ceiling speakers would probably sound bad?
5) yeah, i will.


btw, here's probably what that first tv stand would look like once i put my components and speakers on it haha... :eek:
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/tvstand3.jpg

here's more pics of my family room and a close-up of the old entertainment center i built - you can see that the speakers fit IN the stand which i might just do again. make it less deep, center it on wall, and then either sit tv on it or hang tv on wall still and just put center channel and a few decorating doo-dads on it and then put in cheap ceiling surround speakers from best buy. or i could make it fit in the corner better not sure what would be best.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/familyroom5.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/familyroom4.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/familyroom3.jpghttp://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/familyroom7.jpg

haha....
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/dmcgibbo/photochopSmall.jpg
hanging on wall even with stand below it might still look better. but then i'd have to hang in center of wall left-right. hmm wish i knew a decorator or someone b/c i'm horrible at this stuff! maybe it should stay in the corner on an articulating mount, can put the chair and ottoman in other corner, and then could swivel tv wherever you wanted. but i always thought corner entertainment units looked kinda strange.