TV & Speaker placement - opinions/advice please!

[Chud]

Folks I'm hoping you can steer me in the right direction!

I'm in the process of renovating the front room in our new house - I'm actually being allowed to dig out my surround sound gear for the TV we will buy for it but I'm struggling with the room layout.
View media item 98433I had hoped to get the TV on the chimney breast (A) but concerns about heat (even with a chunky mantel to deflect) and height for viewing are giving me a headache. I was looking at a sprung/gas lift articulated mount that lets you not only pull the TV out from the wall but also move it up and down like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B9AM...lid=3OIEF4JY8SSMP&coliid=I2D8YLS5HJ3F0N&psc=1

Option B is it goes in the corner on a conventional TV unit but this is giving me real issues with a) looking at it always at an angle from the 3 seater sofa (which is the main one to be used) and b) 5.1 speaker placement (my 'satellites' are compact bookshelf speakers ~30cm h x 12w x 15d so not tiny cubes!).

The plan is to run the speaker cable through conduit under the floor boards to where the AV Amp is located - in the case of option A it would be in a unit in the recess between the chimney breast and the bay window with speakers in the obvious locations - for option B it would go in the unit under the TV but the speakers (need to keep them neat/subtle or they'll be banned)??

The only other thing I can think of (while I was typing this up) is using an articulated mount on the side of the chimney breast next to (B) that would let you have the TV in position B but move it round closer to position A for watching movies etc and keep the speakers in the positions used for option A?

Anyhow, I would really appreciate some objective input on this!

 

[motorbiking]

I have a separate cinema room, but in my lounge I have my TV above my log burning stove. I've had it like that for years. I have a home made solid oak shelf/mantle about 2.5" thick by 6" deep. The TV is sat well behind that and absolutely no excess heat gets through the oak, even when the fire is belting out heat. As for cables, I mounted sockets on the chimney by building a bit of a false plasterboard wall and the comms cables (ethernet, TV areal and optical/digital etc also run through this and out to network ports etc. Speaker cable is under the floor, but since this is just the telly, I've not got it plumbed to surround sound.

The only downside is the Telly is a bit higher than you'd ideally want - only really a problem when using the passive 3d, which isn't great anyway.

For a cinema set up, i'd go with it opposite the window as this will give good options for audio. That room layout is pretty much how my cinema room looks other than, I don't have a bay and have the projector mounted throwing on to the wall opposite the window.

 

[Dean Kernoghan]

Hi,

I have a simular layout as you can see from the pics. Personally I dont like a tv mounted on a wall for a couple of reasons... 1) its too high for comfort. A tv should be at eye level when seated. 2) Access to the rear. If like me you like video games etc its important to have access to the back of the telly. 3) Cable city. Theres nothing worse than seeing cables which could be a problem mounting it above the fire place. 4) Hassle. Its much easier to replace down the line if its just sitting on a tv stand.

Some tvs have a swivel base, I know my panasonic turns on its base so keep an eye out for that. I dont have floorboards so I cant really have my speakers where id like them without doing a lot of work (putting cables behind skirting boards) so I have them a various distances in front of me which is fine. Good quality speakers make up for the lack of direction.

Hope this helps in some way.