Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Help needed on HT setup

Update to situation and more advice needed:

As mentioned, I have 8' ceilings. When my TV is set on top of the new low bookcase style Ikea units we bought as an entertainment center, there is 26" left between the top of the TV and the ceiling. We also have an upper set of storage units that are 15" tall and 16" deep that will mount to the wall above the TV. I was looking at the specs of the VP180 and needless to say, did not realize how HUGE it is, especially relative to its littler brother, the VP150.

With the storage units being 16" deep and adding in the space for the wall brackets, the front of the storage unit will be about 17" from the wall. The units on which the TV will sit will be farther from the rear wall to accommodate the rear of the receiver and all the cords (although they are also 16” deep). Therefore, I can bring the lower bookcases and thus the TV out as far as I would need them to at least have the front of the TV even with or slightly behind the front of the center speaker.

Here are my options, in order of what I would like to do, knowing that the VP180 should be at least 2-3" from the wall behind it (according to a review I read that was quoting Alan's recommendations):

1. Mount the upper bookcases almost directly above the TV leaving 11" of room between the top of the upper storage and ceiling. I will have to tilt the VP180 (9.25" tall) down toward the listener area and since the VP180 slopes down as it goes toward the rear of the unit, I should be OK. I was thinking on putting some brackets near the rear of the 180 on the bottom to hold it in place to the storage unit since the front of the center channel will be about 3" over the front edge. I hope that makes sense.
2. Mount the upper bookcases to the ceiling to allow for 11” of space between the top of the TV and the bottom of the storage unit. I would then either have to mount the VP180 to the underside of the storage unit or build some type of shelf to support the 180.
3. #1 with the VP150 (for size reasons only, not $$)
4. #2 with the VP150
5. ???

Let me know if I have not explained anything well enough and I can try to elaborate.

Yet another question is about my sub. Once again, I have two choices. I can put the sub to the right of the listener’s couch so it is between the couch and the wall basically in the right rear corner of the room (open space – couch – sub – wall) or I can put it on the opposite side of the couch (open space – sub – couch – small space – wall). I will obviously try both positions but I am just wondering what people’s experiences have been if one works better than another. Due to space, I cannot really put it in either of the front corners behind an M80.

Thanks!!

If there's no possible space in the unit to mount the VP180 underneath the TV, then I'd prefer to use option 2. with a shelf supporting it above the TV. Although higher up and tilted down would work, it'd be better to have the center as close to the same level as the screen as possible.

As to the sub location, in general the best location for a single sub is a corner farthest from a large opening. In your case, if I followed your description, the right rear corner would be the "tighter" spot.