two piece center channel?

[mikei-ma]

I've got a VERY small space for my center channel and I'm wondering if anyone makes two piece center channels or VERY thin speakers. I invision a soundbar with only the tweeters and mid in them, so it'd only be 2-3" high, then I'd place a small woofter behind the TV to pickup the remaining. If not I'll just make my own mid/tweeter bar with speakers like THESE MID's from parts-express.

Thoughts?

 

[Ranger Digital]

my thought is who makes a subwoofer that fits behind a tv!

 

[pete_c]

I had a similiar issue and went to numerous smaller footprint center channel speakers. My 7.1 sound set up though now is a hodgepodge of paired mostly external speakers with one pair of "in ceiling" speakers. So its external front, center, back and subwoofer and midway back its two in ceiling speakers. You don't see the subwoofer as its behind one of the end tables in the family room. I went with the Bose mini center right under the LCD TV. It is a single piece multiple speaker small footprint front center channel speaker though.

The room itself though is rectangular in shape with one corner really cut at a diagonal with one of two entrances to the room. I offset the listening section such that the speakers are positioned more for the visuals and sound around the seating arrangement of said room. Such that the right side while facing the LCD speakers are closer to a wall and the left side is more mid room (relative to the topology of the room) but ideal for the listening footprint. IE: the rear left external speaker is not in a corner but rather mounted on the back of the room wall adjacent to the diagonal of one entrance making the appearance a bit more aesthetically pleasing (WAF). The front two speakers are reasonably priced JBL mini towers with multiple speakers.

Way different than say the 1970's with Altec Lansing Stonehedge III's powered by an old 100 lb oversized receiver (that was really too hard to move around). The speakers though would blow out a match (similiarly to the old Bose 901's or Klipch that I had around that time). Still remember the Thorens and Technics platters (record players) that I had back then and the old Nakamichi Dragon cassette player. Do recall though the KLH/JBL "bookshelf" speakers were placed in the windows of the dorm in college on friday afternoons at the end of very long weeks at the time. (yesteryear)

 

[mikei-ma]

I built the opening for a 55' TV - just waiting for the right mix of technology to pull the trigger on the purchase. The tv is mounted in a wood box with plenty of space behind it. I was thinking of mounting in wall woofers behind the TV in the space - high WAF. I kept my options open because I thought I might want to mount some 'extra' stuff behind the TV (amps, etc) but it just seems too difficult so I went in the basement on a rack. Here's a photo of the space.

 

[pete_c]

I had a friend mount his LCD TV in his newly made above fireplace cavity a few years back. That said he just used the built in speaker (which didn't sound so nice) and externally mounted on the wall speakers in the room.

In Florida we had a fireplace with about 20 something feet of stone going up to the top of the ceiling with some granite base. The house (originally built in the 1950's) and purchased around the 1980's was torn down and we built a new home in its place around 2000. We opted out on the fireplace and built a kind of short 1/4 sized multiple shelf do what with deep cavities. The center was designed for an LCD TV. Above is all with a with a bay water view. I had the contractor put PVC (multiple) tubing between the center and the side shelves. The TV cavity has a small shelf maybe some 6 inches high. Underneath is the center speaker. A bigger LCD would fit in the cavity though with no space for a center speaker. The front two speakers are in the shelved on each adjacent side. The are just regular shelf speakers and sound nice. The subwoofer and rear channels are built into the walls and ceiling. Much LV cabling goes from this area to the center of house wiring closet. (a huge mix; video, cat5e, RG6, audio etc) Its a "great room" with high ceilings.)

In Indiana I helped a friend with his LV wiring. He built a great room in the middle of the home. Fireplace stone goes up two floors in height; its nice looking. That said he wanted an LCD TV and my recommendations were to put it on another wall such that when sitting near the fireplace he would enjoy his fireplace and when sitting in the MM section of his great room he would enjoy his TV. Here the ceilings were too high for in ceiling speakers so we did a half wall height external speaker thing relating to the cabling. Speakers are not installed and I am not sure if external speakers will look ok.

Went to a party a few weeks back. It's a retired person's home (a bit big at around 8 K SF for one person to live in). That said its a builders spec home with Control 4 automation (she wants it out). She has a great room also in the house. Here I saw LCD TV's almost on every wall in the great room; sports bar like. But also like paintings all over the place showing art screen savers. Not sure if I really liked that. Mix and match on the sound.

So I guess you can buy a smaller than 55" TV and build or sit it on a shelf such that you can mount a center speaker above or below the LCD TV?

 

[tmbrown97]

If it were me, I'd go with a nice LCR soundbar across the bottom of the TV; they have some that are exceptionally thin - and if you needed height, I'd just custom-mount it to basically cover up that gray part on the bottom of the TV. Then potentially do the sub behind as you mentioned.

 

[Del91574]

I would agree with above regarding the soundbar, however as far as the sub goes, I would locate it somewhere else. We've had good luck installing subs in corners (helps the sound, makes them sound deeper) or using specifically ported units and then installing them within the floor joist spaces and using a HVAC grille to help the sound hit the living level. Subs are not directional.