[PPCFlyer]

We just purchased a new home. The "plan" was to use the formal dining space adjacent to the living room for my tv and audio. Now she really wants a formal dining area, and asked if I could move A/V into the living room. I agreed to look into it, but I am having a terrible time figuring out how to make it work. The living room is open to an upstairs balcony with tall ceilings, and has hardwood floors. But the worst part is the area I have to work with is on the side of a fireplace, and it is only 5.5 feet wide X 2.5 feet deep. There is a hallway on the other side of the fireplace, so flanking it is out. In this area will need to be my speakers, sub, receiver, Blu-ray and 58" plasma. There are two surround speakers already wired on the rear wall. I am open to buying / building what ever is necessary (within reason) to make this work. Here is what I currently have: Onkyo 805, Magnepan 1.6QR, 3 Klipsch SLX, Klipsch RW-12, 58" Samsung plasma. Obviously my Maggies are out. Please take a look at the photos, and let me know if you have ANY suggestions.








Here are the only ideas I have at the moment:


1. Mount the plasma to the back wall with a mount that will extend the TV forward and flush with the fireplace. This will give me room underneath for everything else. Place 2 speakers (floor standing, bookshelves on stands, or my Klipsch SLXs on stands) 5.5 feet apart, place the sub between the speakers and under a small rack to house the other components. Given the distance between the speakers, I will probably just phantom the center channel. There is also the option of using a wireless module for the sub and place it elsewhere in the room.


2. Use a soundbar.

I would then either mount the plasma to the back will with a mount that will extend the TV forward and flush with the fireplace and place the sub and components under it, or use my existing stand and wireless my sub.




Here is my current setup in the dining area, and my Maggies.

 

[Kini62]

First suggestion would be to tell your wife, a deal is a deal.


Second, move the dining room into the living room since you won't need it for your HT.


Third, rip out the fireplace. What a waste of space. 99% never get used anyway.


Fourth, tell your wife you're not only going to keep what you have, where you have it, but also that you're going to get a better sub just for the inconvenience and anguish of having to think about giving up your maggies.

Nothing you can do with the room as is, Your TV will barely fit. You're not going to be happy with anything in that room coming from your maggies.

 

[Jack D Ripper]


If you have an extra bedroom, or if you can make a room in your basement (if it is unfinished; otherwise, you need not make the room, as you already have one), using that instead that might make both you and your wife happy.  Your wife ought not object, since she is asking you to give up the dining room.

 

I don't think your living room is going to work well as a home theater.

 

[Espo77]

I can't see what is on the left of the fireplace wall, but perhaps you could set up everything towards the left corner. This could actually sound wonderful...playing the three front spkrs from the left corner out into the room. BTW, nice room. Corner placement works fine.

 

[PPCFlyer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Espo77  /t/1523324/in-need-of-help-for-my-horrible-living-room-pics-in-post#post_24504473


I can't see what is on the left of the fireplace wall, but perhaps you could set up everything towards the left corner. This could actually sound wonderful...playing the three front spkrs from the left corner out into the room. BTW, nice room. Corner placement works fine.

In the second pic, to the left of the doorway beside the fireplace starts the foyer.



If no one comes up with anything that will sound good, I'm going to keep the dining area.





On a side note, I moved the Maggies 1/3 of the way into the living room and set the wingback chair in the sweet spot. OMG! The best they have ever sounded.

 

[PPCFlyer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Kini62  /t/1523324/in-need-of-help-for-my-horrible-living-room-pics-in-post#post_24504245


First suggestion would be to tell your wife, a deal is a deal.


Second, move the dining room into the living room since you won't need it for your HT.


Third, rip out the fireplace. What a waste of space. 99% never get used anyway.


Fourth, tell your wife you're not only going to keep what you have, where you have it, but also that you're going to get a better sub just for the inconvenience and anguish of having to think about giving up your maggies.

Nothing you can do with the room as is, Your TV will barely fit. You're not going to be happy with anything in that room coming from your maggies.

Well, I don't have to use the Maggies. If something else will work well, I'm always up for new equipment. I'm waiting for a final resting place before I address my sub issues. I have plans to build a 15 cubic foot sealed SI 24" sonotube.

 

[PPCFlyer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack D Ripper  /t/1523324/in-need-of-help-for-my-horrible-living-room-pics-in-post#post_24504281


If you have an extra bedroom, or if you can make a room in your basement (if it is unfinished; otherwise, you need not make the room, as you already have one), using that instead that might make both you and your wife happy.  Your wife ought not object, since she is asking you to give up the dining room.


I don't think your living room is going to work well as a home theater.

The good news is the house has 5 bedrooms and a 9X11 office. The bad news is the other 4 bedrooms have beds and kids in them... The office could have potential as it is vacant, but the Maggies wouldn't work in there. I had thoughts of maybe some KEF LS50s, a projector and a 100 inch screen, but it wouldn't seat more than 2 or 3 people.

 

[Transmaniacon]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PPCFlyer  /t/1523324/in-need-of-help-for-my-horrible-living-room-pics-in-post#post_24505903


The good news is the house has 5 bedrooms and a 9X11 office. The bad news is the other 4 bedrooms have beds and kids in them... The office could have potential as it is vacant, but the Maggies wouldn't work in there. I had thoughts of maybe some KEF LS50s, a projector and a 100 inch screen, but it wouldn't seat more than 2 or 3 people.

I would utilize the office as your listening space, having a dedicated space lets you add room treatments, and a smaller space like that won't need much sub horsepower to sound awesome. I only see two seats in the living room, and I would wager the dining room isn't a huge space where you would have more seating. '


Just out of curiosity, why won't the Maggies work in the office?

 

[PPCFlyer]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Transmaniacon  /t/1523324/in-need-of-help-for-my-horrible-living-room-pics-in-post#post_24506361


I would utilize the office as your listening space, having a dedicated space lets you add room treatments, and a smaller space like that won't need much sub horsepower to sound awesome. I only see two seats in the living room, and I would wager the dining room isn't a huge space where you would have more seating. '


Just out of curiosity, why won't the Maggies work in the office?

We are still unpacking and the living room will eventually have a large sectional. The dining room theater seats 4-5 currently.


As for the Maggies, for a pure listening room, they could probably work. Using the Caradas placement would have them with roughly 2.5 feet from the center of the speaker to the side wall, leaving only about 3 feet between the speakers and 4-5 feet off the back wall. It's tough watching a 58" tv through a 36" window. Now a 80"-100" projector screen with a couple (KEF LS50, Philharmonics or other awesome bookshelf) mounted under the screen about 4-5 feet apart and 2-3 feet off the back wall is very doable.

 

[Transmaniacon]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PPCFlyer  /t/1523324/in-need-of-help-for-my-horrible-living-room-pics-in-post#post_24506615


We are still unpacking and the living room will eventually have a large sectional. The dining room theater seats 4-5 currently.


As for the Maggies, for a pure listening room, they could probably work. Using the Caradas placement would have them with roughly 2.5 feet from the center of the speaker to the side wall, leaving only about 3 feet between the speakers and 4-5 feet off the back wall. It's tough watching a 58" tv through a 36" window. Now a 80"-100" projector screen with a couple (KEF LS50, Philharmonics or other awesome bookshelf) mounted under the screen about 4-5 feet apart and 2-3 feet off the back wall is very doable.

You could always go with an AT screen and put some speakers behind it, this would help maximize your space. Really isn't a best case scenario here, how large is the dining room? Is it open to any others spaces?

 

[Espo77]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PPCFlyer  /t/1523324/in-need-of-help-for-my-horrible-living-room-pics-in-post#post_24505859


In the second pic, to the left of the doorway beside the fireplace starts the foyer.



If no one comes up with anything that will sound good, I'm going to keep the dining area.





On a side note, I moved the Maggies 1/3 of the way into the living room and set the wingback chair in the sweet spot. OMG! The best they have ever sounded.

I know how these sound. I want them in a bad way, but just settled for less due to $$$. Again corner placement of the screen and three front speakers will almost always do you well. Just kind of pretend that the room isn't there, and set up the system towards the corner area.

 

[rezstudios]

I have a similarly terrible space where I put in a 5.1 system. I made the mistake of trying bookshelves and a large sub, which didn't work at all. The solution for me was a GoldenEar SuperSat 50/60c set-up with their smallish ForceField 4 sub. The SuperSats are on-wall. The center is horizontal like a soundbar and the fronts are vertical. They are more flexible than in-wall since you can direct them a bit better when on wall-mounts and they sound much better than the in-walls I have heard. Just a suggestion if you can't use your maggies and are trying to set up something in that space.