Speaker advice for a weird room

[csh]

Hello
I need to buy a new set of HT/Party speakers as well as a receiver for my family room. I am a little lost because of the layout of the room. See attached image (its a bit small so i will provide some details)
1) The family room is 12X18 with 11ft ceilings
2) We have ut our existing 42'' TV above the fireplace and the couch is on the other end (so 18ft distance)
3) There are windows on either side of the fireplace.

I did some measurement and if i eat up all the space between windows the max i will be able put is a 65'' TV (ideally would like to do that as we sit far away from the TV).

Here are the requirements
1) The music has to be as loud as i can get within my budget (we host our friends and they like loud music). So i am thinking Klipsh or something loud.
2) Cannot put PA grade speakers as they have to look decent
3) Wife does not like anything on the floor so speakers have to be wall mounted. Enough space for center channel but not much for side speakers unless i get a 60'' or a 55'' TV
4) The side speakers are probably too close to ears so dont need to be that powerful
5) I can go with smaller 7.1 speakers and put downward facing speakers and put them on the side wall facing downwards.. this way we will need smaller speakers but very efficient (as we need loud)

My budget is around 2K for speaker and amp minus TV. Any advice on the make/model/setup of the sepakers and the amp.

 

[KEW]

I'll start with what I see as the biggest issue - Can you move the sofa a bit farther into the room and allow for a semi-isolated space behind it? Since you entertain, perhaps a wet (or dry) bar behind the sofa!
Ideally, you want the FR and FL speakers to form an equilateral triangle with the Listening Position (LP). With your current layout, If you allow 2 feet from sidewalls they will be 8' apart and ~17 feet from you. That iis a lot of room for echos to intermix with the desired signal. Furthermore, having a reflective wall immediately behind your head is going to cause problems. You either need to put sound absorbers behind you or move the sofa away from the wall (or both!). There is also often a very large increase in bass right along the wall which is not likely to be balanced.
What is to the left? is that a patio with sliding glass doors?
Looking at your layout and wanting to be practical, I might suggest, as a minimum, bringing your sofa even with the decorative column.
Of course, you'll want heavy curtains over any glass to tame reflections, but you'd also want that to help block light from washing out the TV during the day.

 

[TheWarrior]

KEW rightly points out that having the couch along the back wall is not a good choice for sound. The sound will reflect off the back wall and arrive at your ears at almost the same time as the direct sound, blurring the sound stage.

I would also add that you will want to go out and hear as many speakers as you can! Personal choice being a main issue, just keep in mind that when listening in other rooms the bass will always sound different - your room is in control of the bass!

My concern is the size of those front windows, you are going to be hard pressed to get good sound at all seats without at least partially blocking the windows with speakers. The glass is also not your friend with high frequencies (even sealed speakers radiate energy in all directions into the room, the windows behind will very much contribute to the perceived sound!)

 

[lovinthehd]

If you don't move the couch forget 7ch, wouldn't be worth it and that size room may just be better off with 5ch anyways and would help on your budgeting, maybe even just starting with 3ch in that sense. The $500 Denon 3300 at Accessories4less.com would be a good choice for receiver. Subwoofage can get pricey, personally I'd spend no less than $500 on a decent sub, and would prefer two but look around SVS, Hsu, Rythmik, Power Sound Audio, Monoprice's THX subs, etc.

Not all pro/pa speakers are aesthetically challenged but that depends on taste but most should come suitable for mounting otoh. Mackie might be a brand to check out, maybe something from JBL's pro side (but probably out of budget). Klipsch may be a good alternative for price/performance altho aesthetically I don't think they look all that much different from many pa/pro style speakers.

 

[csh]

This is awesome. Thanks for your replies. Tried to covince the wife to move the couch but she will not agree. I will look at the mackie. Any other options? Maybe a really loud soundbar and a sub. Is there a really loud soundbar?

 

[csh]

I found a brand new in the box tx-nr 727 (co worker selling it) for $350. I took it. Now what speakers sub should or just sound bar and sub. So basically it has boiled down to some very good looking and very loud speakers that can be wall mounted