What's my next move (upgrading)

[William Lemmerhirt]

Is the TV too high? I followed this when putting it up (first google search lol). It said for TVs 70" + to have the center roughly 67" from the floor. With the distance of my couch from the TV it does feel natural to watch, i don't find myself craning my neck, which I hate.

But yeah, this room has been tough. Basically those two openings you see open up into the rest of the house. To the left (before the opening) is just another wall. So you think I wouldn't be able to place towers directly under the two corners of the TV? What about bookshelfs... same problem?

Flipping the room is definitely not going to fly lol so I'm stuck working with what I've got.

Well... we all work with what we have. So with that in mind, these are my thoughts, and only how “I” see it, not speaker in totality or for anyone else.
IMO, yes, the screen looks too high, but being IN a room can change that feeling altogether. Not sure where the data comes from in the link provided.
As for speaker placement under the corners of the screen, IMO they’d be 1)too close together for good stereo sound 2) too far below the screen to accurately place side pans and off screen sounds and 3) NOT to the sides of the screen with the same issue as (2) 2-3’ is usually good.
That doesn’t mean you can’t, and you will surely get much better overall sound than the soundbar. I will revisit your pics but off hand, I might personally consider wall mounted BS speakers on the outsides of the openings, with a LOT of toe in. As I said, I’m a tower guy but for the reasons above imo, they’d be too low, even in the outboard positions, but probably better than directly below. Again, these are my own thoughts, and nobody else’s. Also, I might have different ideas were I able to stand in the space.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I'm no stranger to cinder block furniture. When I was single I needed my money for beer and car stereo.

View attachment 30424

Not mine, but hey. This isn't horrible! Lol

Lol! I hear that! Mine was a little more streamlined but similar. Wife hated it, it only lasted a couple weeks.
I could tell that wasn’t your work since the CC is almost on the floor lmao!!!
Yes, beer money... I spend a fair amount these days but it’s for better beer VS the old days where it was about MOAR!!!!!

 

[pbatty]

So I tried moving my XB's to the front to see what they would sound like, and left the soundbar as center. They are sitting about 5' apart from one another and about 8 inches below the corners of the screen (on 34" stands). They certainly sound much more full than the soundbar did on its own. Right now I'm leaning towards grabbing another pair along with the XC for center and saving the money I would spend on towers for a better sub. Although I would have to move my sub from its current position in the front to behind the couch in the back, which I guess is okay? Since my room situation is not ideal I'm starting to think this is the best I can make of it.

 

[Pogre]

So I tried moving my XB's to the front to see what they would sound like, and left the soundbar as center. They are sitting about 5' apart from one another and about 8 inches below the corners of the screen (on 34" stands). They certainly sound much more full than the soundbar did on its own. Right now I'm leaning towards grabbing another pair along with the XC for center and saving the money I would spend on towers for a better sub. Although I would have to move my sub from its current position in the front to behind the couch in the back, which I guess is okay? Since my room situation is not ideal I'm starting to think this is the best I can make of it.

I think that's a good, solid plan. With a sub (or 2) you're not missing much with bookshelf over towers.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

So I tried moving my XB's to the front to see what they would sound like, and left the soundbar as center. They are sitting about 5' apart from one another and about 8 inches below the corners of the screen (on 34" stands). They certainly sound much more full than the soundbar did on its own. Right now I'm leaning towards grabbing another pair along with the XC for center and saving the money I would spend on towers for a better sub. Although I would have to move my sub from its current position in the front to behind the couch in the back, which I guess is okay? Since my room situation is not ideal I'm starting to think this is the best I can make of it.

Good plan. Relocating the sub is also a good idea.

 

[Pogre]

As a possible side effect you may find yourself listening to more music now too. When I upgraded my rig I started hearing things I'd not noticed before in all of my favorite music and made my collection seem fresh again.

 

[pbatty]

Awesome, now that that's decided, is anyone able to recommend wall mounts for the XB's? I am going to use the stands I currently have for the fronts, but instead of getting 2 new stands I think I'd rather mount my surrounds to the back wall and point them towards the listening position. Only thing is the XB's don't have any mounting points. Anyone have experience with this and can point me in the right direction?

EDIT: Oh boy, I only just realized the XC is rear ported and can't be mounted directly to the wall the way my soundbar is. I was hoping to just swap them out to cover up any holes in the dry wall. Would it be possible to instead mount a small shelf and place it on that?

 

[2channel lover]

Cinder blocks would be pushing it for me too, but I'll bet I could talk her into it...

I'm not too bad at diy'ing stuff like speaker stands or modifying my tv stand so it can handle the weight of my amp and receiver. I want the stuff to look nice too!

Cinder blocks would be pushing it for me too, but I'll bet I could talk her into it...

I'm not too bad at diy'ing stuff like speaker stands or modifying my tv stand so it can handle the weight of my amp and receiver. I want the stuff to look nice too!

I'm not sure if this is our last home, but our 1st home I had the basement for a killer HT space, our 2nd, it was in the family room (nice entertainment center, etc.) 3rd was a built in entertainment center probably the best to date because it contained everything including the music library. In this current home when were building she said, you can have your way with your music stuff...upstairs in the loft...I don't want any speakers, etc. on the floor down stairs.

I was a bit miffed at 1st because this was a ranch style home and the loft meant doing stairs on the regular again, something I thought I was getting away from with this home....after we moved in and I got it set up...this is the best I've had...zero input from her. Oddly she like most of what I've done up there...lol

 

[Crazy8s846]

Indeed you do.

My wife wouldn't care about the screen size, but the cinder blocks would never have made past the front door, or the back .

I bought the blocks in while she was gone with the kids

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I bought the blocks in while she was gone with the kids

Lmao!
That’s exactly what I did. I built mine when she was out. She came home and goes, “wtf is that?” Lol

 

[2channel lover]

Lmao!
That’s exactly what I did. I built mine when she was out. She came home and goes, “wtf is that?” Lol

If in the living/family room, my wife would've said two words....OUT!...NOW!

That said, I kinda like that one in the pic.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Tried to take a picture of my setup but the file size was too large to upload. I could do stands for the left and right but there is a large center console underneath a wall mounted tv, so there wouldn't be room to put one in the middle. Was thinking two floor standing towers and then I could put a center speaker on top of the console (or mount it under the TV). Started looking at the PSB Imagine X2T and the Imagine XC, but wonder if I could get an equally good sound from a lower priced brand.

Since you don't have much space, I would hang 3 more PSB XB bookshelf speakers on the wall in place of the soundbar.