Well...if it were me I would get a low nice credenza to home the receiver and all. The TV would get wall mounted. The room isn't large enough in that area to have free standing speakers (if you want function AND a nice interior) so I would do ceiling speakers but possibly keep your subwoofer if it's a good one. Show your husband the link below. I had this brand in the old house and bought the newer version in this home. The new 18 degree mount with 15 degree pivot makes a great center and back speaker. See the other choices for your left and right. These are priced so reasonable and are better than $$$$$ ones. http://www.htd.com/Products/high-definition/HD-R65AIM-ceiling-speakers. The link dosent seem to go right to the page. It's the HD R 65aim high definition. They are paintable grills.

Check into a soundbar. It is a speaker that is about 3 feet long and a couple of inches deep and a couple of inches high. It sets under the TV and replaces all the speakers, etc. You'll still have a small sub-woofer to go along with the sound bar.

justerrilynn and bbstx, you obviously don't have husbands who are into audio/speakers!! Both of your suggestions would be laughed at and dismissed immediately. Any audiophile male would look at this room and know that it could easily handle much bigger freestanding speakers, if only the wife wasn't so against it!

peppapoodle, I feel your pain! I'm lucky that we have a separate guest house that my audiophile DH has completely taken over. The speakers are now about 5 ft tall and would buy a nice car if traded in. I tell myself there are worse hobbies a man could have!

I would take that basket/tray off the top of the entertainment center. Move the art up a few inches and out from the EC a few inches ... you need some breathing space between things. The positive is that you have it all contained in that one piece of furniture ... hopefully your DH doesn't get the itch to upgrade/trade to more and bigger components.

You are lucky he's OK with a subwoofer that fit into that cabinet. We just had 4 speakers (surround rear and sides) installed in our ceiling. They look ridiculous but at least less intrusive than the large swivel-mount ones DH wanted.

DH would NEVER go for a sound bar - they really are no where near as good sound quality.

As for the top of your cabinet, I would leave it empty. Arranging items on top seems to draw attention to it and make it look larger. Create another focal point in the room!

Obviously, I failed to appreciate how lucky I am. DH is perfectly happy with his soundbar.

The first thing I thought of, too, was to remove everything from the top of the cabinet. In the top three cubbies of the cabinet, place one piece of pottery or art glass or something. The current arrangements you have in the cubbies are nice but I think if you're striving for uncluttered, there are too many small pieces there right now. I can't tell for sure but it looks like you're using the speakers to display a couple of urns or something. If so, I would remove those and just let the speakers stand alone.

Can he have a room for all his stuff? I used to be the semi audiophile in the house, my husband was not. I am very happy with the sound these speakers give out. It's not as good as when I had a Rotel receiver ( now have upper Onkyo with bells and whistles) but it's pretty darn good. Put your foot down. It's your home too. Plus, some men just like the bragging rights on all that stuff. Unless the whole room was designed for sound (walls, ceiling and floor) you never will have perfection. The sound will even be affected by the stone on the fireplace.

pugga, the things on top of the speakers are also speaker stuff ... can't tell from the dark photo, but it could be part of the speaker or an add on to improve the speaker sound and performance.

I would remove all the art from the wall where they are placed now as they call attention to the speakers below them. I'd put the larger piece on the wall centered over the fireplace chair. The other two I'd find a place for on a different wall. Then I would clear the top of the ec and put the green vase to the right of the mantle painting which would draw the eye to the mantle as it's a strong color. That way you'd have a trio of color and art which is more appealing as one enters the room. Other than that, I think your room is lovely and you've done a great job.

Yep, my first thought was take all the stuff off the top of the cabinet, but do find a place for that cool basket thing. What about pushing the two tall speaker things closer to the cabinet? What are the things sitting on top of the tall speakers?

I am with always.....take all the stuff off the top of the cabinet and push the tall speakers closer to the entertainment center if possible. In one picture I can see a round table that seems to be taller than your couch arm....can you take it away and put a floor lamp there or a smaller/shorter table. I like the two pictures above your speaker but the other rectangular one not so much...can you find one that is vertical instead of horizontal? If you move your speakers closer to your entertainment center, you may want to do away with the artwork.

There is an optimal place for speakers and jammed against a furniture piece isn't it ... so I'm sure her DH won't agree to that. I've heard all the science behind speaker placement from my DH. Unfortunately sometimes you have to allow the men in your life to make some of the choices with regard to things they are passionate about in the house. There has to be compromise. I always joke I would have a perfect looking house if I didn't have a husband, kids and a dog! ;-)

Thank you all for the suggestions!!!

We used to have a media room upstairs & never used it. So, this was a compromise to have the EC built to house the subwoofer & he could keep the speakers. Yes, the tops of the speakers are part of the speakers- not display.

Im already liking everything removed from the top. That seemed to be an unanimous suggestion. DH would like the speakers farther from unit. He moves them out & I move them closer!

Next, I will try moving the pictures out farther from EC.

What about covering foam core in a blue/ slate grass cloth paper to lighten up the back?

Oh that looks better already. I'm glad you found somewhere to possibly use your "tobacco basket", I thought I might have to take that off your hands for a minute ;-) I don't think the speakers look that bad to be honest, at least they are uniform and sometimes you just have to work around things like that.

I don't suppose there is any way to remove the top portion of the cabinet and just leave the TV free-standing? The cabinet competes with the fireplace and makes the room look smaller by its massiveness. I'm guessing there's no way to separate them but I thought I'd ask. Just a small point, but I would take the greenery out of the jug and just let the jug make a statement of its own on the hearth.

I somehow have the feeling you have too many prints in the room. I would remove the one to the left of the cabinet and put the Audubon bird there, and find a large, unframed oil painting to put over the fireplace, maybe a landscape with green and blue colors. Overstock.com, amazon and e-bay have lots of selections, and I think an oil painting would give the room some personality and depth that seems a bit lacking now. Also, can that basket to the right of the cabinet be removed?

chispa, you should have seen the precision measurements going on in our house in preparation for the install of these surround speakers! The funny thing is we rarely watch movies or play games through the speakers so they almost never get used. And of course if our sofa gets moved a couple inches, it's a disaster :P

Hi everyone! I had to take a break from decisions, was feeling overwhelmed. It's nice to come back with a clear head & re-read the comments.

The top part is heavy feeling & competes for the FP.

What do y'all think if I remove the top piece, mount tv on the wall & keep the lower part? Have that painted in the wall color, SW moderate white? Maybe antique mirrors where the glass is now. I could remove baseboards & build cabinet closer to the wall.

Then we work on art around the tv.

Bumping this for you. Looks better without the items on top of the tv stand.

I actually think the stand helps to balance out the fp, while others have said it competes. I'm not always good at visualizing though. Maybe someone will photoshop. If you keep the stand I like this idea of covering with foam core in blue/slate grass cloth paper for the back. .

I agree with shee that the mass of the tv unit balances some of the mass of the fireplace and it looks great with the top cleared off. I would not wall mount the tv; I like that it's a bit more "hidden" in the cabinet. I can't see it really well, but the color in the green pot looks like it coordinates nicely with your heron pic.

I think I'd like the tv more hidden, as well. Really dislike seeing any cords from the side.

So, paint entire piece? Add puck lights for shelves up top. And remove trim & make look more built- in?

Since the cabinet guy would paint it, he could add more height by adding beefier baseboard & build up the trim?

If it were mine, I wouldn't paint it...the tv will then just look like it's mounted on a light wall, I think. I like the dark wood with your wonderful art in the dark frames. And I think those are speakers to each side? They will look much more prominent with a light painted cabinet. For a necessary media center, I think it looks fine, as is.

Im still not against painting the EC. Maybe I can talk DH into different speakers that fit into upper shelves? As long as they have high quality sound similar to these, yes-- buy a car$$ speakers!

I did remove the artwork from the sides, better?

Hi! I don't think I posted to your thread before, but I followed along because I too have a non-compromising audiophile/video game-pile DH with a multi-exposed etc component/TV situation.

Haven't found a good solution, but one thing I'm planning to do is to paint the wall a medium or dark color to minimize the contrast. Maybe that would work for your space too.

Much better without side pictures. Now can your speakers move over or attach to your entertainment center? Maybe it was answered before and I missed it. I think I like the top of your entertainment center empty.

Did you change the small chair and its side table, and add a floor lamp; or switch them out with others you had?

3katzforme, you get its!! Lol Your speakers really blend well with your room though!

Caroline, this house has been musical chairs/ furniture sine I moved here!!

Erinsean, you like better with nothing instead of the dough bowl?

melle_sacro, that's a great idea, but there's no stopping point- it's a big rectangular room all open.

Im really thinking about getting out the paint brushes & let the honking thing blend into wall more. The TV & speakers just are what they are & DH gets so much enjoyment from them.

I prefer it with the art. The lack of art puts too much focus on the EC.

I like the last photo. I really like the dough bowl & moss balls on top. I think the art could work on the sides, but think original stuff on top with the addition of the art was too much.

Yes, I would leave the top of your entertainment center empty. Dough bowl is interesting but doesn't add much IMHO. Looking good. Maybe at Christmas time you could put some candles or sparkly greenery draped over.

I agree with those who fear that painting the EC a lighter color will only emphasize the TV, I like it the way you have it now with the dough bowl.

I missed comments to this thread, sorry!

So, no painting the EC!

I feel like my head is spinning in circles on this.

What if I take the top off & have tv mounted on wall? I could have console changed to something more rustic

I really like this picture- the sconces, simplicity of the piece.

Shutters centered behind speakers? They are just leaning now & not centered

Those shutters are cool. I personally don't think your EC looks bad. Do you think if you take out the top piece of the EC then you'll feel like your wall space is too empty and sparse looking? I think your EC fills up your wall space nicely with just the minimal accessories like you have pictured above.

ETA: I re-read your post with the inspiration pic where you said you could replace the EC with a rustic cabinet etc. What works for me in the inspiration pic is that the cabinet is longer than the tv, then the wall space is filled with those light fixtures. I think that looks nice and you could do that look if you used a longer cabinet like the inspiration pic. My fear was you taking off the top of your EC and then you'd be stuck with a bunch of empty space.

I like the idea above of taking off the top portion of the EC - you could just try it and leave the TV on the bottom part just to see what you think. If you like, you could wall mount. I've probably missed something but don't suppose the speakers could be move further away and angled toward sitting area?

I have a sound bar and love it - gave up using the wired sound in the room because it works so well.

I agree with what Always1step just said about the space looking sparse. I think the EC balances the fireplace. You have the room for it.

You have a gorgeous ceiling and fireplace! They should be the stars of the room.

I'm a bit of an audiophile myself, so I understand that sound bars and other all-in-one type speakers are completely unacceptable. And the speakers can't point in a different direction or be shoved smack dab up against the EC. They're too close as it is.

Having said that, the problem is that the sheer size of the EC and the darkness of the color force the eye right to it instead of the beautiful features of the room, the ceiling and fireplace. This is one of the many reasons I hate TV and have only recently allowed one into my home. I can't stand it when people spend creativity, time, and money decorating a lovely living room like you have obviously done, and then the whole focal point of the room is the TV!

I really like what Beverly did above. Rather than try to hide it, which is impossible and just makes it look even more imposing, she played up its good features, added the green, which is a very nice touch, and made it look like it's supposed to be there. The other iterations make it look out of place, although everything was an improvement over the first pics with that big thing on the top.

Beverly took the good things from your inspiration photo and made them work in your room! Now you can play up the fireplace and people can see it, and the ceiling, without being overwhelmed by the EC.

Your EC now looks like it was invited and welcomed into the room instead of looking like your DH sneaked it in there in the middle of the night and it is most unwelcome. :-)

Hope this is helpful!

Sincerely,

Debbie

Somewhere on these boards I've seen an art collection surrounding a mounted tv and it looked really nice. How would that look and also a rich paint color on the wall. I don't think the floor speakers would look bad at all.

Here is a photo I took at a VRBO. It is a small version but gives an idea. But I still like your inspiration pic.

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My conclusion from everyone's post is--it's better than it was with all the stuff, but it's still not right for my room & elements.

i plan to be here for awhile so I don't mind taking the time to figure out what works. Still going to try to talk DH into speakers we can hide. surely, this big space with concrete floors is best for sound quality so he can give some too!!

Beverly, I do like that & thank you!!

rhs, thank you for your photo! That may be more of what I do. And Shee, I hear you on the blank space-- it's a big wall & tall ceilings.

debbie, thank you for your thoughtful response! There has to be a way to balance form & function of the TV!!

always, your right- it's the length of the cabinet that makes it work with the sconces

im at work, hope I did miss anybody!! I so appreciate everyone's input!

I believe Aktillery did a gallery wall around her tv and it looked nice. I can't find the post right now. That would be an option maybe if you wanted to lose the e.stand.