[azzaba]

Can someone help me out on this.


I am trying to figure out what my options are for front speakers. As you can see the spacing between the fireplace and windows is very narrow. We plan to put the TV above the fireplace.


Any suggestions:

 

[weaselfest]

Wouldn't you want your speakers mounted flush with your TV? Squeezing anything between the window and fireplace puts the speaker right next to 2 hard acoustic surfaces, creating unwanted reflections.

Not knowing the quality of sound you are expecting, theater or stereo sound, or a budget, it is hard to make any specific suggestions. Three little satellite speakers mounted alongside and just below the TV works for lot of people as do sound bars, either passive with external receiver or active, connected directly to the TV. If you are thinking of something more invisible, there are many directional in-ceiling mounted speakers that will let you angle the drivers towards the listening position. Look at Triad, Sonance, or Speakercraft for examples.

Don't see a lot of evidence of wiring pathways for video or audio on that fireplace or surrounding wall; how finished is this space currently? You would think that there would be quite a bit of wood framing around those two windows, not leaving a lot of space between them and fireplace for routing wire. Is there a basement below?

 

[azzaba]

That is not my actual house but will look almost identical.


I don't know much about soundbars.


I was hoping to put the center channel on the ledge and figure something out for the fronts.

 

[weaselfest]

can the "something else" involve drilling any more holes in the fireplace surround?(besides the ones needed to mount your TV. Or is that going to sit on the "ledge" also?)

You could buy some tower speakers and straddle the hearth, set two bookshelf speakers next to the center channel on the mantel, wall mount some tall skinny "flat panel" styled speakers.......hard to say.........what have you heard that you want to emulate? What have you owned in the past?

 

[NickTheGreat]

How wide is the fireplace? You could put a mantel and then speakers on that. Or a soundbar seems like a decent idea for this case.

 

[jautor]



Quote:
Originally Posted by azzaba  /t/1466590/speaker-placement-with-fireplace#post_23161388


That is not my actual house but will look almost identical.

Highly recommend you reconsider that location if there is any chance of using one of the two side walls (and reconfiguring the room layout) instead. The height of that "above the fireplace" location is going to be uncomfortable to watch. Assuming this is your primary viewing location, you really don't want to be looking up from a couch seating height up anywhere near that high... I suggest you try that out in your current house - put the TV up at that height and see what it's like from your expected viewing distance.


The "above the fireplace" mounting is trendy, but hardly ever a good solution...


My $.02...


Jeff

 

[wildcat91]

Agreed X2.


The over the fireplace option always seems good in the planning stage but typically falls short in the end. I know two people that had done it originally and later ended up moving things around. One of the big problems aside from the awkward angle you are watching TV is that you are combining two visual aspects of the room into one line of site, creating a distraction while you are watching the TV. Do a quick image search on yahoo for "TV over fireplace". When the TV is off it looks fine. but with the TV on you might find your eye drawn to both the TV and the fireplace opening.