Wife approved system?

[mtrycrafts]

... I feel better about my response to mtrycrafts.
...

Well, there comes a point in those circumstances when it is best for the other party to make the decision, sour or not.

 

[Woody611]

Ok, all decent advice so far, I think. Thanks.

The room that this system will be going into is kind of an open L shape. The living area is about 17'x17'. One wall has full sized Windows (this is a walkout basement). The bottom of the "L" is 26'x12', it will have a bar area, a place for a card/pool table and opens to the outside.

I understand that the "best" sound would come from floor speakers. What would be the advantage of bookshelf vs on wall vs speaker bar? Is this purely a woofer size thing? From my younger days it seamed like people I knew that were big into car systems would brag about who had the biggest speakers/subs fo making things way louder than what was safe for the human ear. Is that the logic in this case as well? The larger the woofer the better the sound?

 

[Jaybeez]

I agree with the idea of a solid 5.1 system. My wife hates big, obtrusive gear, and I hate the sound of the tinny speakers on our TV.
Our Main TV (51 inch Samsung) is hooked up to a Denon AV Receiver, 4 small (Polk) bookies, a matching center channel and a 10 inch powered sub, as well as a Blue Ray player.
I'd upgrade the whole bit if my wife would let me, but the gear is pretty unobtrusive and sounds pretty darn good.
For your budget you could do quite well.

 

[KEW]

I understand that the "best" sound would come from floor speakers. What would be the advantage of bookshelf vs on wall vs speaker bar? Is this purely a woofer size thing? From my younger days it seamed like people I knew that were big into car systems would brag about who had the biggest speakers/subs fo making things way louder than what was safe for the human ear. Is that the logic in this case as well? The larger the woofer the better the sound?

Actually, many of us believe that if on a budget, bookshelf speakers are better than floorstanders (assuming you use a subwoofer).
For example, if you have $1000 for 2 speakers, you could get a pair of SVS Prime Floorstanders or a pair of SVS Ultra bookshelf speakers. Compared to the Prime Towers, the Ultra BS would give you better sound quality in every way except bass. But you have a subwoofer... and the Ultra BS is capable of greater sound quality down to 60 or 80Hz where you would cross it to the sub!
So with a sub, it is not a woofer size thing. However, if you were talking satellite speakers like the mini-cubes, they don't always reach down to the frequencies for optimum subwoofer integration and I doubt you could get a satisfactory max SPL out of them in your room, so there is still a point where too small is too small, just not where you were thinking.
Now, some people will indeed argue for the biggest subwoofer!

 

[KEW]

What would be the advantage of bookshelf vs on wall vs speaker bar?

Bookshelf - no compromise except for bass which is really not a significant concern IMHO.
On Wall - Usually only 4" deep speaker box, so Woofer depth is constrained to about 3", and limited cabinet volume for bass resonance/porting is another compromise. Nonetheless, I have heard some very good on wall speakers (these are not huge compromises). Additionally, you cannot play with toe in.
Speaker Bar - The same compromises of On Wall plus the compromise due to width of bar. Usually around 40" is near the longest, which means footsteps that should come from the right of your TV (off-screen) will be solidly located inside of today's larger screens. If you are sitting back 10', 40" means only 16 degrees from the left to the right.
Another compromise of the Sound Bar is design/marketing assumptions associated with soundbars.
For example, here is a higher level ($1600) Yamaha which uses a total of 46 speakers to emulate a 7.1.2 system (with Atmos). It may not sound too horrible, but I would by far prefer a pair of decent book shelf speakers in stereo than buying that all of these drivers in the same box will give me 7.1.2 surround sound! Not to mention the 4.5" Subwoofers!!!
Almost all sound bars offer some types of gimmicks to try and pretend it has legit sound quality!
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_022YSP5600/Yamaha-YSP-5600-Digital-Sound-Projector.html

 

[Mark of Cenla]

Bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer are the way to go. Some of them look quite nice. Peace and goodwill.