# Family Room Home Theater



## TheHammer (Dec 16, 2012)

We are in the blueprint stage of building a house. I am trying to get the best audio and video I can our of a large family room setup.

We are running into all sorts of conflicts and trade offs, not the least of which is WAF (wife acceptance factor).

The one wall of the family room is going to be 21' long. I need to fit a gas fireplace, TV (unknown size), three speakers and a beloved huge subwoofer in place. The builder has suggested centering the fireplace which sets the TV off to one side, which I cannot stand. So we tried putting the fireplace off to the side and then we have a chair roasting by the not open fire, not a good thing.

So I am coming down to the unenviable compromise of having the TV above the fireplace. It looks like, with clearances, that I can start mounting stuff, like the mantel 39" above the floor.

So the TV, after clearing the mantel and a center speaker will start at about, oh 46 to 48" off the floor.

I watch most TV from a recliner. Is having a TV this high going to work at all?

Any suggestions on good in the wall speakers, including center speaker (if that will work with the fireplace)?


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

TheHammer said:


> We are in the blueprint stage of building a house. I am trying to get the best audio and video I can our of a large family room setup.
> 
> We are running into all sorts of conflicts and trade offs, not the least of which is WAF (wife acceptance factor).
> 
> ...


I do not have that setup, but I tend to think that is going to be a bit tough on the neck as you are talking about more than 5' to the center of the TV most likely. It might work for short duration viewing, but I do not think watching a 2-3 hour show would be comfortable.

What about doing a corner fireplace - is that feasible? That is what I have in my living room, and it seems to work fine. I can snap a photo or two if that would help.


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

A tilting mount will help with tv hight but you need to see if you'll be comfortable for long periods of time looking up at the screen. 

As for speakers/sub. I'd look into building bookshelves with cabinets on either side of your fireplace and opt for bookshelf speakers and a center on the mantle. Then go with a sealed sub in the cabinets with the cavity reinforced. This may greatly improve waf as you can hide the equipment and the sub.


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

I have TV over the fireplace in my living room, it's great for having the tv on while you're doing stuff in the room or in the kitchen across from the living room, but it's impossible to watch a movie on it. I also would recommend a corner fireplace. it won't interfere with your A/V setup, and I think they look and feel great in the corner too.


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## kingpin748 (Feb 20, 2013)

A TV over the fireplace is fine. How far away would you be sitting? I'm not sure why people hate it so much. Unless you're sitting 6' away from it I'm not sure why you would need to crane your neck. My new place didn't have a fireplace where the TV was going and I basically hung it at the same height as I the old place. I do have it angled down towards the couch though but that's more for viewing angles.


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## TheHammer (Dec 16, 2012)

Thanks for the comments.

A corner fireplace is tough because, with the open floor plan, we only have one corner in the room and that is fairly far removed from the main seating area.

The proposed room is 19 feet wide, which seems awfully big. I suspect that the seats will be about 10 ft away from the screen. I am thinking that the TV above the fireplace might be a mistake.
I am still playing with the layout.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

Fireplaces are more powerful than you might think, the main level of my house is about 1400 square feet and the fireplace heats the entire floor up faster than my furnace does, I think the corner would be fine for keeping you warm.

I don't know how high mine is, but the bottom of my screen is about a foot and a half or so above my eye level, which is really uncomfortable if you're actively watching something. It's completely comfortable for my wife because any time she's "watching" tv she's also playing games on her phone or facebooking or some other thing.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

I was thinking the same thing - the fireplace will warm things up quite quickly. Also, having seating further away removes the kiddos further from it as well.

An additional plus - we always struggle to "fill" corners when we rearrange the room. If we put the tv in the corner, we have to angle it in order to be seen so it ends up taking more space. Having the fireplace take up one whole corner makes one less to have to worry about.


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## TheHammer (Dec 16, 2012)

Thanks everyone. You have reinforced what I thought, which is great.

We found a nice solution. There is an outside wall that is almost all windows. We are going to put the fireplace there and it will be back vented, with windows above the fireplace and on either side. At least on paper, it will look great.

Then I get to keep the interior wall as 100% audio / video with some sort of built-in to hold everything. I should be able to get the massive sub in there - if will be interesting to see how it's frequency response will be affected. Since it is an open layout, it will change, but what the .

The other compromise will be since there are no interior walls on the other side, I will have to put the surrounds in the ceiling. I have done that on other installations and, although not ideal, they can sound OK. It will be a V shaped cathedral ceiling so the speakers will be downward firing at a 45 which will help. I am going to try 7.1 setup and spread out the four on the back. It can't hurt.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Good news - sounds like that should be a workable solution. As far as the surrounds, I think in ceilings would work fine - if possible, try to get something that has directional tweeters.


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## mcascio (Dec 5, 2010)

I went througha similar battle of trying to squeeze a fireplace into the same room as my main viewing great room. After playing around with it and thinking about it, I opted to completely remove it from the room. My thoughts were I'd rather have the TV that I'll use 99% of the time rather than a fireplace that barely ever gets used.

I did end up putting the Fireplace in the Kitchen and a TV above the mantle. It worked out good for us since most people are standing in the kitchen and we have high bar stools. We've probably used the fireplace only a handful of times over the past 8 years.

I think you made a good choice not compromising your neck.


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