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Speaker help for Fireplace installation

post #1 of 5
5/1/12 at 6:18am
Thread Starter 
Hello, I am in the process of purchasing and mounting a new Panasonic 60ST50 plasma over my fireplace and I am trying to figure out the best way to go about getting audio set up in the room. I know, I know, mounting the TV above the fireplace is not ideal but is the way it is.

I have attached a picture of the front of the room. I will be lowering the mantel height by about 3-4" to try to bring it down a little closer to eye level. I have also included a little diagram (not to scale) on how the room will be set up. Any help with speakers and speaker placement would be awesome.

I currently have a Klipsch surround sound set up (all large, floor, center, sub and rears). In light of the wifes request to minimize large speakers I have tried to do all kinds of research to find decent speakers (either in wall or small book shelfs) without spending a ton of money or sacrificing sound to an extent.

Upon researching I came across the in wall speakers offered by Monoprice, these are significantly cheaper than anything else and seem to have decent reviews. I'm not sure if anybody here has any opinions on these speakers and/or which ones I should consider. I am also considering keeping my sub/center speaker and picking up four Klipsch R-2650-W's... I can't seem to find any reviews (customer or professional) on these speakers so I guess I would be buying on gut feeling and past experience with Klipsch.

As far as mounting goes, I was planning on mounting the left and right speakers so that the bottom of the speaker matches up with the bottom of the TV, the center would either go centered in the wall under the TV or on the mantel if I kept an in box speaker. The rears I was going to try to put up about 7' and try to center them on the side walls where the "primary" listening area would be.

Any help/advice or even telling me that I am crazy would be sufficient!

Thanks in advance for any help, and as the construction ensues I will make sure to post updates and pictures.

PS I will be running these speakers with a Yamaha RX-N600

Shleybells

 

Living room.pdf 30.4541015625k . file
LL
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post #2 of 5
5/1/12 at 6:44am
Almost all in-wall speakers have limited power output and sound pretty crappy.
There are a few good ones from PSB and some others, but they are quite expensive. My advice is to stay away from in-wall speakers if you have any other options at all.

The JBL L820 is fairly decent and wall-mounts only 5" deep. That might be something to look at.

IMO you would be far better off putting the TV to the right of where it is in the picture. It is going to be way too high for comfortable viewing above the fireplace, not to mention the heat and smoke damage to the TV, which will void the warranty. If you put it on the right-hand wall and get some fairly narrow tower speakers, like for example the Cambridge Audio S70 speakers, you should have a nice-looking setup.

You can put the TV on a stand and all of your electronics can go below the TV, and those Cambridge speakers are only 6 inches wide, which should be a nice setup.

If you mount your TV high on a wall, you still need someplace to put your gear, which takes up more wall space. By putting the gear under the TV, you actually save space overall.

I have the TechCraft HBL60 stand for my 60" Mitsubishi, and that is a very attractive stand which has black steel and dark grey smoked glass shelves. The two shelves will hold 6 pieces of gear 17" wide below the TV and that takes care of everything except the speakers.

You could even put some small bookshelf speakers under the TV on the top shelf, but they would have to be rather small.




Quote:
Originally Posted by Schlehke View Post

Hello, I am in the process of purchasing and mounting a new Panasonic 60ST50 plasma over my fireplace and I am trying to figure out the best way to go about getting audio set up in the room. I know, I know, mounting the TV above the fireplace is not ideal but is the way it is.

I have attached a picture of the front of the room. I will be lowering the mantel height by about 3-4" to try to bring it down a little closer to eye level. I have also included a little diagram (not to scale) on how the room will be set up. Any help with speakers and speaker placement would be awesome.

I currently have a Klipsch surround sound set up (all large, floor, center, sub and rears). In light of the wifes request to minimize large speakers I have tried to do all kinds of research to find decent speakers (either in wall or small book shelfs) without spending a ton of money or sacrificing sound to an extent.

Upon researching I came across the in wall speakers offered by Monoprice, these are significantly cheaper than anything else and seem to have decent reviews. I'm not sure if anybody here has any opinions on these speakers and/or which ones I should consider. I am also considering keeping my sub/center speaker and picking up four Klipsch R-2650-W's... I can't seem to find any reviews (customer or professional) on these speakers so I guess I would be buying on gut feeling and past experience with Klipsch.

As far as mounting goes, I was planning on mounting the left and right speakers so that the bottom of the speaker matches up with the bottom of the TV, the center would either go centered in the wall under the TV or on the mantel if I kept an in box speaker. The rears I was going to try to put up about 7' and try to center them on the side walls where the "primary" listening area would be.

Any help/advice or even telling me that I am crazy would be sufficient!

Thanks in advance for any help, and as the construction ensues I will make sure to post updates and pictures.

PS I will be running these speakers with a Yamaha RX-N600

Shleybells
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post #3 of 5
5/1/12 at 7:27am
I agree with mounting it on the wall to the right of the picture but also understand your situation. I also suggest looking at HTD Flat Panel speakers. I have them in white mounted on the wall each side of our abandoned second fireplace that never would draw right and the TV is in front of the fireplace on a stand with the center just below it. Evetually that fireplace will be sealed up and the TV mounted on the wall at that location.
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post #4 of 5
5/1/12 at 1:55pm
Thread Starter 
Sammy2, I am not familiar with HTD but I am very intrigued. The TV is going to stay above the fireplace (I'm not going to win that battle) however, once I get the mantle lowered down it will be at a reasonable viewing height.

I think the HTD flat panel speakers I would be able to set the center on the mantle and the front speakers on top of the cabinets that will be flanking the fireplace. Do you have any pictures of your set up? Which HTD set did you end up getting?

Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy2 View Post

I agree with mounting it on the wall to the right of the picture but also understand your situation. I also suggest looking at HTD Flat Panel speakers. I have them in white mounted on the wall each side of our abandoned second fireplace that never would draw right and the TV is in front of the fireplace on a stand with the center just below it. Evetually that fireplace will be sealed up and the TV mounted on the wall at that location.
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post #5 of 5
5/1/12 at 2:01pm
Thread Starter 
commsysman, I agree with all your recommendations... however, due to the way the room is set up and to get away with having a 60" tv in the main living room I need to split the difference with the wife. Once I lower the mantle it will bring it down to a reasonable height. As far as the components I have built custom cabinets that will be placed on each side (one as a dummy and the other to hold all the components, they will keep everything hidden and will be accessed by IR extender) plus it will be symmetrical for the wife.

Another option I could consider is placing a small boxed center channel on the mantel itself and then placing reasonably sized book shelf speakers on each cabinet (shown in my PDF document I had attached above). I am starting to think that this will be a better way to go. Those JBL speakers you pointed out do look nice tho... so many options lol

Quote:
Originally Posted by commsysman View Post

Almost all in-wall speakers have limited power output and sound pretty crappy.
There are a few good ones from PSB and some others, but they are quite expensive. My advice is to stay away from in-wall speakers if you have any other options at all.

The JBL L820 is fairly decent and wall-mounts only 5" deep. That might be something to look at.

IMO you would be far better off putting the TV to the right of where it is in the picture. It is going to be way too high for comfortable viewing above the fireplace, not to mention the heat and smoke damage to the TV, which will void the warranty. If you put it on the right-hand wall and get some fairly narrow tower speakers, like for example the Cambridge Audio S70 speakers, you should have a nice-looking setup.

You can put the TV on a stand and all of your electronics can go below the TV, and those Cambridge speakers are only 6 inches wide, which should be a nice setup.

If you mount your TV high on a wall, you still need someplace to put your gear, which takes up more wall space. By putting the gear under the TV, you actually save space overall.

I have the TechCraft HBL60 stand for my 60" Mitsubishi, and that is a very attractive stand which has black steel and dark grey smoked glass shelves. The two shelves will hold 6 pieces of gear 17" wide below the TV and that takes care of everything except the speakers.

You could even put some small bookshelf speakers under the TV on the top shelf, but they would have to be rather small.
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