Speaker Placement Dilema

[Haywood]

The new house has a TV mounted above the fireplace. It is not my favorite place for a TV, but I am stuck with it for various reasons. The plan is to use a wall mount that allows me to pull the TV down in front of the fireplace. Most such mounts make it possible to lower the TV by a little over two feet.

The room is already wired for speakers and the current owner has a center channel sitting under the TV on the mantle. The problem is that clearly won't work if I'm using a pull-down mount. I'm considering in-wall speakers, but mounting the speaker just above the display will result in it being two feet higher than the TV when it is in the down position.

Any ideas? I thought about just getting a decent soundbar, but the room is wired and I already have a receiver and a subwoofer. I'm currently leaning toward Monoprice in-walls.

 

[Lone Stranger]

The TV mount needs a center channel mount attachment. I wonder if such a thing exists.

 

[PaulyT]

Do you need a center channel? Just go phantom...

 

[Deleted member 133]

The TV mount needs a center channel mount attachment. I wonder if such a thing exists.

Potentially a great idea. Would need to see pics of what Haywood's set-up looks like - and the mount he's planning to buy. But all the metal bits that he'd need to make such a thing are easily bought at Home Despot, and after a little Tremcladding...

 

[Towen7]

Several flavors of brackets exist to either hang a speaker below the TV or to support the back of a shelf above the TV.

The challenge will be depth as most are designed for a slim soundbar. I struggled with how to use my Polk CS20 in the office. I ended up going phantom (for now).

 

[Flint]

Do you need a center channel? Just go phantom...

This.

In my family room I not only don't have a center channel, I didn't bother with surround speakers. It is great and I thoroughly enjoy the shows I watch in there. Of course, I still have a big fancy HT for all the serious stuff. I assume you will as well.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Do you need a center channel? Just go phantom...

I haven't used a center channel speaker for probably over 10 years. In my opinion, the center imaging thing with movies is given far, far too much attention. In a movie theater or home theater, the only people who are going to get a totally balanced sound stage are those who are sitting on the center line. Move away from that, and all bets are off. Even when a movie is being mixed with a 3 man (there I've said it - they are men ) mixing crew, two of them, the effects and music mixer, are off the center axis by quite a bit.

I have never found dialog collapsing to one side or the other unless I'm literally right in front of either the left or right speaker, and in that instance I'm not hearing what's on the other speaker anyway. Also, two speakers are always going to image the basic stereo image of the left and right channels (for music especially) far better than with a center speaker being part of that image. The exception to this is the rather uncommon situation where the three front speakers are exactly the same model and on the same vertical plane in those theaters which have the speakers behind a perforated screen. Then there are other things which get screwed up by the sound travelling through the screen.

 

[Haywood]

Most center channel speakers are too big to mound below a TV on a soundbar mount, depth being the biggest issue. I was thinking about mounting an in-wall speaker just above the display when positioned above the mantle. The series of speakers I plan to buy has a model with an adjustable angle that facilitates aiming the drivers at the listening position and I thought that might help offset the two foot height difference. Skipping the center altogether is a also an option. Any thoughts on my idea for that high-mounted in-wall center?

Putting a surround system in a secondary room is a bit silly, but the room is already wired for it and I already have a receiver.

My initial thought was to use SVS Prime Satellites for this project, but I decided to go with Monoprice in-walls for two reasons. The first is that this is a secondary location and in-wall speakers just blend into the decor. The bigger reason is that I'm thinking about using eight of these to cover all the surround duties in a 7.2.4 setup when I build my theater. I want to spend some time with them and make sure they are up-to-snuff before making that commitment. The fact that they are only $99/pair doesn't hurt either.
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=109&cp_id=10837&cs_id=1083701&p_id=13682&seq=1&format=2

The room is pre-wired, but I think the mains are too wide and all of the speakers are too high. You can see the locations for three of the speakers in this picture.

 

[jomari]

wait, did you buy it? did it close?

 

[Haywood]

We are under contract, got through the home inspection and successfully negotiated seller repairs. The FHA appraisal is due in a couple days, but we are not expecting any problems, as the comps are great and the house is in good shape. At this point, it is just a matter of paperwork (lots and lots of paperwork) and waiting until the 30th. This is basically a done deal with little chance of going wrong at this point (knock on every piece of wood I can find in this office. dammit. where's the wood?).

I say waiting, but the better word would be packing (lots and lots of packing). We've got about 1/3 of our stuff packed already, but we have to do a lot of work to prep our IKEA furniture for transit and it is going to be a bit tight. Our current lease ends on April 30, but we have to replace a carpet and do some painting at the new place before we move in and we need to fill a lot of holes and clean the current place up before the end of our lease.

 

[Dentman]

Another vote for skipping the center chanel. I have no plans on using one myself. They almost always become way to much of a sacrifice in every aspect.

 

[Deleted member 133]

Space for a centre channel speaker was also at a high premium in our family room HT. I opted for the small, but very capable, Definitive Technologies Mythos Seven and have zero regrets. Here's a pic of it in place.

 

[Flint]

View attachment 7538

That's a great photo, Jeff!

 

[jomari]

best of luck sir!

in regards to the center channel, if you want get a horn loaded one if you really want to keep a center channel. i had the same def tech i think that jeff showed, great speaker.

 

[Deacon]

virtual speakers!

 

[Haywood]

I think I'm going to start with no center and see how it goes. I might consider adding something like the Def Tech later, though I worry about something like that matching well with the other speakers.

 

[Deleted member 133]

I think I'm going to start with no center and see how it goes. I might consider adding something like the Def Tech later, though I worry about something like that matching well with the other speakers.

That's always a concern, however the Def Tech seems to be a pretty "neutral" sounding speaker, and works well with the Studio 20s it's playing with - the 20s also being known for their relatively neutral sound. I bought it just over 7 years ago for $300C on sale. A quick check shows Crutchfield has it selling for $400 (and it has garnered an average score of 5/5 based on 18 reviews.)

I play a fair amount of multi-channel SACD music in that room and it's never drawn any attention to itself: just handles what it's asked to play. Very surprising in such a compact package - but that's the whole point: a speaker for when space is a problem.

Jeff

 

[jomari]

if it doesnt match the other speakers, but exceeds wife approval, its a win win win!

 

[Haywood]

Now I'm debating whether I should roll the dice on cheap in-walls from Dayton or Monoprice, or spend a bit more for well reviewed speakers from Polk or Yamaha. I have no experience with the less expensive brands and wonder how well they would hold up against their more expensive brethren.

 

[Towen7]

FWIW .. I have a few KEF in-ceiling speakers and I like them. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.