Yea, it's a 5 pound bag for sure

Eliminating the center channel or modifying the top shelf of the cabinet to house the center speaker are the best bets.

Back in 2008 I wall mounted a 58" plasma with wall mounted speakers (center, left, and right), a 10" sub in the corner, surrounds high in the back, and in-wall wiring between a single side cabinet to hold all the stuff and the TV/Speakers. I loved it until we upgraded to a 75" OLED earlier this year. Rather than move and remount everything, I scrapped it all and mounted a sound bar below the TV connected to a wireless sub.

While not as immersive as a true 5.1 system, it's pretty darn good. More than good enough for me. We moved the game consoles to a play room in the basement and I've ripped all my physical disks to my plex server. Now, the smart TV apps plus a flat antenna taped to the back of the screen are all we really need. It really cleaned up our family room and made it seem bigger.

Nicky sent me this updated picture of his set up to post.

And again I believe he already has stated that he really loves the sound from that center speaker so keeping it is a priority.


Nicky does that divider move on the shelf where you have your family picture? Moving it or cutting a notch to accommodate the center speaker seems the best way to go at this point.

I've used vesa monitor mounts to place speakers (small ones).

If he gets a sufficiently study articulating mount, perhaps he can find a workable solution?

For concept, maybe something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Gator-F...c7-93deae8f9840&th=1

Or this:
https://www.amazon.com/Single-...d0-5ec63b24bcb5&th=1
with
https://www.amazon.com/Ergotro...75-8bc7-93deae8f9840

Personally though, the floor standing look more than capable for a sufficient 4.1 setup depending on where he sits.

Thank you, Bob.

First rule of the Subwoofer, we don’t speak about the subwoofer.
Got one but no room or electrical socket available for it.
Spousal unit would stab me in my sleep if she smelled my intentions to add it to the group.
Must confess that my rear speakers are identical to the front ones and the room is not big enough for the whole combo. It’s excessive and a subject of constant dispute.

Shame on me.

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I don't think we were pushing you to hook up a subwoofer. It's just that someone mentioned they positioned their sub behind their t.v. and it works fine. Yes, a sub would be fine there, but not the center speaker for the reasons I gave.

Perhaps another option: Put the receiver, amp?, other devices in the nook above the TV. Hang the center in the nook where the receiver etc are currently. I would mount the face of the center in front of the face of the entertainment center - it might provide cleaner sound and image.

Is the receiver class D? Looks pretty hefty. Might consider a USB fan for it. May extend its life. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Wathai-...s%2C141&sr=8-10&th=1

Is there a reason the center speaker can't go in the left nook above the tv, where you've got the family stuff? If that's the center unit in front of the tv now, it looks like it would fit there easily, and even if a little to the left and not perfectly centered, would be close enough that you wouldn't notice (or remove the center divider as Bald1 suggested).

Or is there a spousal interference there?

The dividers are fixed.
It’s a cheap piece of furniture that stands held in place by a few pins posing as nails and cardboard plates. Remove the wrong pin/nail and it all comes down like a house of cards.
Miracle it hasn’t happened yet. It’s quite a lot of weight.

The receiver is a current(?) Yamaha RX-A2A.

In Argentina you buy what you can find/afford instead if what you want. My previous Yammy lasted 20 years before being replaced and it was the beginning of the Lockdown. I went YOLO on it, same as with speakers, Xbox and NAS.
Most definitely NOT my usual behaviour.

Never heard of Class D. Will need to investigate the subject.
Since my previous and still working Yammys are from 1988 and 2000 and still working I never considered a fan. The Xbox One did reach boiling point once or twice, summer get real hot down here.

FINAL THOUGHT: Center at the back of the TV is a no-no. Check.
Will keep current setup until TV gives up the ghost or decite to move to a different place.
Will look for a fan to keep a happy Receiver as long as I live. Check.

Thank you all for this brainstorming session.

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Resurrecting this, in similar spot. Planned Samsung tv lower than my center speaker height. Or pretty much any of them. That pic above of the speaker intruding on bottom of screen would make me nuts.

Found on Amazon simple stands that attach to the holes on tv for wall mounts, extend below tv to flat feet protruding front/back of tv. Think an upside down T. Can adjust height by how far up/down the brackets you attach the tv.

Think this is gonna work for us.

technology passed me by, have no idea the purpose of a "center speaker"...

quote:

Originally posted by sse:
technology passed me by, have no idea the purpose of a "center speaker"...

Early on, TVs and radios has one speaker (mono). All the sound came from that one speaker.

Next, came dual speakers (stereo), with left and right speakers each with their own distinct channels. A movie or show could set up their sound mix to have sound come from both sides, or have certain sounds only come out of the left side, or only the right side, if they wanted to introduce some directionality to the sound (like for someone or something moving from offscreen left, onto the screen, and then offscreen to the right). Or sometimes music will be mixed to have certain sounds come from just the left or just the right channels.

Then came multi-channel "surround sound" home theater systems, which most commonly have 5 speakers plus a subwoofer. It has Left and Right speakers in the front like a stereo system, but also adds in three additional speakers: Front Center, Rear Left, and Rear Right. All five speakers have their own dedicated channels. This also usually has a 6th channel for bass signals to go to a subwoofer. This is where you get the commonly heard term "5.1 surround sound". 5.1 = 5 sound speakers in a circle around the listener, plus 1 bass speaker/subwoofer.

When watching a TV show or movie with a 5.1 system, most of the sound effects and music come from the Front Left and Front Right speakers, while most of the dialogue comes from the Center speaker. This allows for spoken dialogue in its own distinct channel and speaker to more clear, without being overwhelmed or muddled by competing with music or sound effects in that same channel and speaker.

(Sometimes you see the Front Left, Front Center, and Front Right speakers all combined into one long speaker box, known as a soundbar. These are still distinct speakers and channels, just in one enclosure.)

The Rear Left and Rear Right speakers are mostly used for either atmospheric sound effects or directional sound effects for objects that are simulated to be moving from offscreen behind the viewer, past the viewer, and onto the screen, or vice versa. (Like a bullet firing past your head.)




There are now even more complicated home theater systems that incorporate 7 sound speakers around the listener (7.1). And further Atmos systems that accomodate either additional overhead speakers or sometimes speakers that can also direct sounds upwards to bounce off the ceiling, which allow for the simulation of directional sounds moving in a sphere above and around you, not just on a flat plane. (Such as the sound effect of helicopters flying overhead in a movie.)

For me, I would have raised the TV by an inch, more or less, and leave every thing else in it's place. It looks like you could afford an inch off the top there. Super cheap.

Also wondered, we can see how high and wide it is, but what is the depth of that center speaker?

I ask because you could build a shelf in front of the main TV shelf for it as long as the speaker is relatively shallow depth (5-6 inches?).

I still say raise the TV a tiny bit and you'd leave it that way for years. Likely costs nothing to try it at least temporarily, couple of old paperbacks maybe?

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by sse:
technology passed me by, have no idea the purpose of a "center speaker"...

Early on, TVs and radios has one speaker (mono). All the sound came from that one speaker.

***

Thanks a bunch for that! Most informative.

When CD's came out (early 90's) I got a small player and a set of powered Bose RoomMate II speakers, about 200 bucks, at the time rather expensive. They sounded fantastic, no need for a sub-woofer. But recently they have gone silent. Had been plugging them into headphone jacks on the TV and laptop. The input jacks for obsolete technology on modern devices, if you can find them, are absolute crap. So I was forced to use them only with the laptop, using a USB adapter. That failed and am currently using the USB-C jack with another adapter, I'm sure it will fail soon. The TV can't be repaired, but I'll get a Dell service plan and have a dealer replace the headphone and USB modules on the laptop.

Meanwhile, I've seen used Bookshelf speakers on ebay, may pick up another set, and keep patching things as I go along. I know, poor strategy!

quote:

For me, I would have raised the TV by an inch, more or less, and leave every thing else in it's place. It looks like you could afford an inch off the top there. Super cheap.

Wondering how you mean? It looks to me like there is almost no gap between the top of the display and the shelf above. Almost touching.

If the OP is still undecided, I vote for just putting the Center Channel on top of the TV Stand with the modem. Seems the easiest way and keeps the Center Channel unobstructed.

^I think it's at least worth a try. FWIW, my center channel sits above my tv, albeit directly above, and sounds great.

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:
For me, I would have raised the TV by an inch, more or less, and leave every thing else in it's place. It looks like you could afford an inch off the top there. Super cheap.

I still say raise the TV a tiny bit and you'd leave it that way for years. Likely costs nothing to try it at least temporarily, couple of old paperbacks maybe?

Along these lines, it seems that the shelf above the TV may have some space behind the front facade. The horizontal shelf doesn't look solid based on the top horizontal support.

If so, maybe you could raise the TV into the space behind the facade to the boundary of the TV black bezel.

There are quite a few new soundbars that are slimline and put out very good sound, the current unit from Vizio is just a couple of inches tall Denon, Sonos, LG, Samsung etc all have thin units that do well

https://www.costco.com/Catalog...ll&keyword=sound+bar