We have three small speakers mounted high up on the wall in our living room. I'm certain I can hide at least one of them behind a hanging or sconce planter, but I'd love to read what others have done. Also, we have a small box speaker, about 12" cubed, that simply sits on the floor. Any ideas for hiding that? Our decor could be a mix of post-Victorian, traditional, country, etc.
Unfortunately commercial audio systems have little to offer in terms of high quality performance without doing architectural violence.
So in architecturally sensitive spaces the only way forward is custom design I'm afraid. I grew up in a Queen Anne vicarage in the village of Frindsbury near Rochester Kent. This is a grade two listed building that our family only sold a year ago.
Anyhow getting a sound system in the living room that was unobtrusive was a challenge. It involved antique corner cabinets wall mounted. Taking doors off and making them into China display cabinets, and building large ported speakers underneath and using the antique door to cover the speaker when not in use. So when the system was not in use there was no way the system could have been spotted.
Various challenges presented themselves during my early years.
The trick is to use form and function, and make even very large speakers fit into their environment. Hanging small box speakers up high will always actually look very, very silly and give very poor performance as well.
So pictures of your room would be very helpful, so that I'm able to make suggestions.
So in the end the AV system becomes an integral part of the total architectural design. You will not find inspiration at Best Buy, or any other retailer come to that.
So by all means post pictures and I will see what potential options there are.
This is what can be done.
Good AV systems give enormous pleasure, and poor ones not very much. So they are worth taking trouble over.
