Need to buy some surround speakers and have a dilemma. Looking for any and all suggestions...
The HT is in our family room. I moved up the couch a little so it is now 12' ft from the TV (a 65" Sony). The couch has a very high back, about 35.5". There is approx 3 feet between the back of the couch and the end of the area rug that divides the room.
In a world without constraints (i.e. no wife) I would put floorstanders behind the couch. Wife HATES that idea, in fact prefers no speakers at all. She can live with monitors on stands. My concern is we have two cats one of which I am 100% certain will jump up on the speaker. Obviously the higher the stand the more likely a flying leap from her onto the speaker could knock it over. I don't worry so much about 24" stands but monitors on 36" stands with a crazy cat scare the crap out of me. Of course, anything less than 36" doesn't clear the back of the couch. I think it's unlikely she knocks over a sand filled stand but I just don't think a monitor will be stable enough to remain upright when she lands on it, especially if she lands on one edge or the other. Not to mention the fact that there are some amazing deals on really good floor standing speakers on Audiogon right now relative to Monitors (which tend to hold more of their retail value probably because of low wife acceptance factor).
I would love to hear from anyone else that has been in the same position.
Ian
The HT is in our family room. I moved up the couch a little so it is now 12' ft from the TV (a 65" Sony). The couch has a very high back, about 35.5". There is approx 3 feet between the back of the couch and the end of the area rug that divides the room.
In a world without constraints (i.e. no wife) I would put floorstanders behind the couch. Wife HATES that idea, in fact prefers no speakers at all. She can live with monitors on stands. My concern is we have two cats one of which I am 100% certain will jump up on the speaker. Obviously the higher the stand the more likely a flying leap from her onto the speaker could knock it over. I don't worry so much about 24" stands but monitors on 36" stands with a crazy cat scare the crap out of me. Of course, anything less than 36" doesn't clear the back of the couch. I think it's unlikely she knocks over a sand filled stand but I just don't think a monitor will be stable enough to remain upright when she lands on it, especially if she lands on one edge or the other. Not to mention the fact that there are some amazing deals on really good floor standing speakers on Audiogon right now relative to Monitors (which tend to hold more of their retail value probably because of low wife acceptance factor).
I would love to hear from anyone else that has been in the same position.
Ian