Questions about speaker placement

Hey everyone, I am trying to determine the best setup for my surround sound system. I have been doing some research and reading about the suggested placement of each speaker, but I seem to have obstacles with each of these suggestions. I will list the recommendation and my obstacle, I was hoping someone could shed some light on the importance of these recommendations.

For starters, I have a 55 inch LED in a large entertainment center with glass cabinets on each side. I have the Energy Take Classic 5.0 and added the Energy SW10.3, and I use a Denon AVR-1612. I sit 12 feet away from the TV, but my wife and I always sit on the chaise which is off to the left, NOT directly in front of the center channel speaker. The left side of the room (the side we sit on) is wide open directly to the kitchen.

Recommendation 1: Optimize the sound for the center of the room.
Problem: Like I said, we don't sit in the center of the room, we are about 4 feet to the left. Will optimizing for the center cause the sound off to the left to be less than optimal? Or will it not be noticeable?

Recommendation 2: Left and Right front speakers should be placed at ear level and between 22 and 30 degrees from the viewing point, also 12 feet from viewing point.
Problem: 22 degrees at ear height would put my speakers at the very ends of my entertainment system and inside the glass cabinet, so I obviously cant do that. There is no unobstructed shelf at ear level, though if it's on the same stand as the TV, it could be within 12 inches. Unfortunately, putting them here gives only 11 degrees off the center. One other option is about 16 degrees, but they would be up high, about 6 feet, way above ear level when seated, and they would be in a position where they could not be angled. The last option is at the end and top of the entertainment center (which is actually still about 20 degrees, getting closer!), which could then be angled downward using a wedge of some kind. The problem here is the wife doesn't like how it looks. Hey, I gotta make some compromises. So my question here is, how important are these angles? How much of a problem would it be to place them at 11 or 16 degrees? How important is having them at ear level if I can angle them downward?

Recommendation 3: Center channel should be at ear level, above or below the TV. Left and Right fronts should be close in height (within 24").
Problem: Ear level is at the TV. Below the TV will be only about 15" high. Above the TV will be about 5 feet. Aesthetically, below would be the best, but that forces me to place the speakers at the 11 degree mark and really only about 60" between the left and right speakers. Above doesn't look as nice and is farther off from ear level, but I could angle it downward and the left and right speakers would be at the slightly better angles.

Here is a diagram. The center of the couch is the viewing point here. The angles on top are the 3 possible placements of the L/R. Surrounds are expected to be 110 degrees to the back. You can see the sub off to the right of the entertainment center.

Thanks in advance.

-Alex

Thanks for all the responses.

underminded999 - If I place everything up above the TV, should I angle it downward toward the focal point?

Poison Nuke - I am confused about how a smaller angle would be better here. I would think a larger angle would give more time for the sound to hit other parts of the room (ie 4 feet to the left of the focal point).

arnyk - I don't doubt or deny that I am overthinking this. This is my first non HTIB surround sound system, and I had to do it on a budget. But that said, now that I have these products, I don't want to just put them anywhere, I want to try to get the best sound I can. Creating this diagram is the best most precise way for me to layout the room and get accurate placement options and corresponding angles to see if they fall in the recommended range.

I bought some mounts for the rear speakers because I never intended to mount the fronts, but I am starting to wonder if I should figure a way to mount them. However, if you see the diagram, my mounting points would be in the corners behind entertainment center, which actually sets them about 2 and half feet farther away from the focal point. This would have them place at 24 degrees, nicely within range. However, now I would worry about some of the sound being blocked by the side of the entertainment center.

Here is an updated view of the room. By mounting the front speakers on the wall, I can get them at 24 degrees. The rear speakers, however, are becoming more of an obstacle. Unfortunately, we have some stuff on the wall the my wife doesn't really want to move, so I am going out a little farther. The rears will still fall in the recommended angles, but will be off center from each other. Is this okay? As you can see from this picture, the surround left will be 98 degrees and over 15 feet from the center of the room (although really only about 13 feet from where we usually sit). The surround right will be only 100 degrees and 11 feet from the center of the room (and also 13 feet from where we normally sit). Is this okay to arrange off center like this? I know arnyk you said that this asymmetry could actually be good. If I use the Denon's AudioHQ self-calibration, shouldn't that account for the differences in distances? And is 13 to 15 feet an okay distance for surround speakers?

Thanks,

Alex

Craig, I see how you would think that from the diagram because I just grabbed 3 couch shapes and put them together to make the shape of my couch. the left seating position is not actually a couch facing inward, but a chaise that faces the TV

Thanks for all of the input. Tezster, that is something I read about on the Audyssey site as well, so I will definitely do that. I think I am running the cable tonight so it looks like this is the final setup.

Thanks again!

I wish I could, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards. Oh well, we started running the wire under the carpet last night, should be finishing up this evening.