Home theater changes... how much will this suck?

For those of you who don't know, I have gutted my living room, added a fireplace, and went from a 55" LCD to a 65" projector and a portable screen.  My audio setup is pretty epic, but decidedly overkill in the small room.

Yamaha A/V receiver
4 channels are going to 4 C-note bookshelf speakers
Center channel is a pretty wicked Polk thingy
Sub is a 300w 10" with a passive radiator that honestly hits hard to 30hz

It truly rocks.

Now that I have the fireplace and mantel put together, the center channel and front channels occupy a very large proportion of my mantel, hiding the glorious walnut that I should be showing off.  When you look at the fireplace, the speakers dominate the landscape and don't leave room for things that are supposed to go on a Victorian mantel.  The point of having a portable screen was that it could be taken down when not watching TV and the stone fireplace is highlighted.

So I'm considering some kind of small-satellite "acoustimass" kind of system.  I know I can never have the overkill audio I used to, but will I find a system that is decent enough that the appearance benefits outweigh the reduced sound quality?  Anyone have this kind of system and like what they have?

FWIW, I've found I enjoy a 2 channel system better than surround.  Surround systems suck for music (OK that is my opinion) but my main system uses a pair of JBL 4311 monitors on either side of the TV screen, nothing like them. 

Scrap the center channel. Mount the fronts from the ceiling. The sub behind or next to the couch. The rears will probably need to go in the back corners of the room, either floor or up on the ceiling.

Some cheap metal, bent to mimic a french cleat is easy way to mount speakers to walls.

Can you use an in-wall center and maybe some smaller bookshelves - but still good quality audio speakers?  I had a Bose satellite sub system and it well and truly sucked compared to real stereo gear, at least for listening to music.  Also had a Polk 5.1 satellite sub system which was at least one step up from the Bose, but still not music-grade IMO.  Don't know what your budget looks like, but I'm thinking that something like the Elac Debuts sound pretty good and aren't outrageously expensive or huge.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

So I'm considering some kind of small-satellite "acoustimass" kind of system.  I know I can never have the overkill audio I used to, but will I find a system that is decent enough that the appearance benefits outweigh the reduced sound quality? 

I hate to say it but no, you won't.  The physics of sound reproduction require a certain amount of physical dimension and trimming that way back is a huge compromise.

How high is your ceiling? 

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

7'

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

I suspected my potential plan wouldn't be feasible, and that confirms it  no suspending magnaplaners from the ceiling. 

After really looking at things and moving stuff around, I've decided that I can probably get what I want if I downsize my current 2 front channels.  They are about 12" tall, 10" deep, and 7" wide.  If I can find something that sounds good and dips down into the 200hz range before sucking, it might be the ticket.

Surrounds go on end tables beside the couch, and they only carry a limited range of sounds, so I can keep C-notes for the surround.  The center channel is large and obvious, but it sounds so ridiculously good I think I can learn to ignore its ugliness.

I'm thinking maybe these.  Half the footprint/volume, can hang on the wall above the mantel, and passive radiators should at least partially compensate for the lack of air mass to play with.

Don't know about the Definitives, but the Elac Debut 2.0 I mentioned earlier are well reviewed and I've been really impressed with them.  They're available w/ a 5 1/4" woofer and a 6 1/2.  I'd prefer the bigger speaker with a lower crossover point to the sub, both for more volume capability and to take the crossover below the upper bass range where directionality/location is less important.

https://www.crutchfield.com/g_37900/Bookshelf-Speakers.html?tp=186#&nvpair=FFBrand|ELAC

Crutchfield also has KEF and I suspect the Q150 would be a good choice too.  Haven't heard them, but the Q350s are really nice.

Edit:  Just read your size limits and the speakers I just suggested are bigger than the ones you have.  As is the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR which are 4" woofer Andrew Jones designs (so are the Elacs - he knows what he's doing).  So:  Never mind...

Are you up for building a few simple cabinets using full-range drivers???

In reply to DrBoost :

I am, but haven't found any that are sonically decent for the footprint I want.  The current cabinets are c-notes that I built with a 5.25" woofer.  They sound amazeballs, but they're big... nearly 10" deep, and not able to mount on the wall due to the port placement.

To demonstrate; here is one of the c-notes next to a 4" cube.

JWagner... those Elacs do sound very good, but they aren't any smaller than the c-notes I'm trying to replace.

So here's what I did.  I temporarily replaced the c-notes with some super-cheapy Pyle 4" cubes (like in the picture) and ran a tone sweep through things.  Serious dip in the 150-300 hz range.  That was just a guess using my ear, not a microphone.  (also, seriously pathetic treble from those Pyle units).  I brought the crossover up a bit on the sub and was able to mostly patch the gap if I don't mind a pretty annoying spike at 250 or so.

So I went to Definitive Tech's website and noticed that they offered a home theater kit with the ProMonitor 800s and the exact sub I already have from them.  They didn't show a response graph, but the reviews are very favorable.  Then, in doing a search for the best price on the ProMonitor 800s, I stumbled across an ebay listing for a set of three ProMonitor 800s for $150 listed as "gently used, excellent condition, money back guarantee."  Basically three used ones for the price of one new one.

I bit.  They should be here early next week.  If I don't like them, I can return them or use them in my studio.

If I have acoustic holes in the reproduction, the Yamaha receiver has a microphone that you can place near the seating and does a tone sweep, measures the response, and sets EQ and channel volume independently.  I don't know how good it is at patching holes, but it worked great when setting up the c-notes.

On a sidenote... Now that I put the hardwood floors in, I noticed that my sub likes to, ummm... travel.

Klipsch Quintets. They're small and sound way bigger than they should. Used market as these are discontinued. Prices are all over the place there are 5 different versions so learn how to visually identify and you can score a good deal. Most will be listed as just Klipsch speakers without stating the model or version. Strong eBay market so local is a better bet. 

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

I'm very familiar with the C Notes. My daughter and I built a pair a few years ago.  
LInk-o-licious

I could be wrong, but I thought I turned you on to them in some thread on this forum?  Maybe not. Anyway, if I were looking for small full-range speakers, I'd find some Dayton Audio PS95s and build THESE or THESE if I wanted to reach a little lower and deeper.

Someone here turned me on to C-notes, probably you.

I absolutely LOVE my c-notes.  I just didn't anticipate the size being an issue after the fireplace build.  The good news is that I now have the c-notes as studio monitors, so I need to fab up some kind of 8-ish inch sub to round out the bottom end.

So, the Definitive Tech 800s showed up last night.  I tested all three that came and they're all in good shape electronically/physically.  One of them sounds like it may have had a harder life, like possibly it was used as a center channel and saw a LOT of action movies.  Still, most ears probably wouldn't hear it.

I did a side-by-side test switching between the c-notes and the Definitive.  Ultimate conclusion is that the c-notes are the clear winner in the sound category, but given the fact that the Definitives are less than half the volume, I would say they do about 80% as well as the c-notes.  Impressive sound for the small package.  They obviously hit x-max at a lower dB than the c-notes, but up to that point they are pretty amazing.

The C-notes offer next to zero distortion with a full-range signal.  About the time I get to some audible flutter, the woofer is usually just about to start banging off the voice coil.  The Definitives will offer some distortion in the lower vocal range, but they do better than their size suggests.

Long story short... as long as you have good control over your EQ (which I sorta do with only 5 bands) I think I'll be able to make the Definitives work... as long as I'm ok with not having quite as much ear-bleeding volume sometimes.  You know... some songs just deserve to be turned up to 11.

I will say that the Definitives do really shine with the home theater stuff which is the majority of how they'll be used.

For now, Definitives stay and c-notes to the studio, but I reserve the right to call rebuttal witnesses.