Once the M80's get here the old Polks will go upstairs. the living room is just torn apart right now as everything is getting painted, and the old rug is going to get ripped out, and some type of wood flooring is going in. There is a fireplace, which sits in the middle of the 1 wall, with a pretty big mattle and sits pretty high. The wife origanally wanted the 50" plasma to sit above the fireplace. Which would pretty much kill any center channel speaker.

Now to be honest, i had an old system from the late 80's, 4 speaker deal, Sony amp. It drove me nuts, as i had to sit with the volume control, turn it up and down all the time to hear the dialoge, then turn it down when i got blasted with music, or whatever else. Basically i stopped using it after a while, drove me nuts. Now I assume things have gotten alot better.

My wife would like to try the multi speaker setup...note the word TRY. Now i may be able to talk her out of the over the mattle placement as it's too high for my likeing anyway. Then place it on a sidewall. So i could put a VP100 under the plasma. I have an old set of Advent (large) studio monitors for the back speakers. So i'm just looking for a fairly cheap 5.1 amp to handle this. I was looking at a Yamaha V465 amp. Anybody have any better ideas on this?

Is there still the problem with volume, as you constantly have to play with it? It also would really only be used for blueray movies anyway.
Thanks for any input.

You might want to shop for something with Dolby or Audyssey dynamic Volume. I know what you mean, but it seems like "most" movies are still mixed for a very wide dynamic range.

yeah tom, that Yamaha model has already been discontinued, i just found out. the new # is a V471, but it dose seem to have all the Dolby this and that. The only problem i see, is if the wife insists the TV HAS to go over the fireplace, because it "LOOKS" nice. Which would kill any center channel.

At that point i'm not sure it's worth messing with this. I don't know what these amps do if there is no center channel, and what happens to the sound since you only have 4 speakers running.

With no center you would end up with a "phantom center". That is, the center channel info gets sent to the right and left mains.

Having the TV over the fireplace may also "kill" your neck. Point that out to her. Tell her to sit on the couch and look at the space above the fireplace for an hour.

Ideally the TV should be positioned so your seated eye level (head straight forward, not looking up) falls 1/3 of the way up the screen.

Nearly every receiver allows for individual speakers to be turned off (except the main left and right). When speakers are missing their content is mixed into the other ones. So if the center channel is set to "none" the audio destined for it, will be mixed equally into the left and right instead.

Thanks for the info guys. I have tried to tell her, that altho the TV above the fireplace, may "LOOK" nice....Nobody is going like trying to watch a movie, with the TV that high.

Unfortunatly the living room is very open. There is not alot of usable wall space sort of speak, as it flows into an eatin area.
The sad part is, with the tv over the fireplace, the speaker placement would be perfect. There are front and back wall the speakers would be sitting on, and you would be sitting right in the middle of a 17' wide room, so for sound it would be great, to watch the TV may be misarable.

The side wall is not very big, it's about 3 feet, then there is a half height railing, that "defines" the eatin area from the living room. So i may have to go with a set of M2's on stands, but again, 1 would at least have a back wall, the other would just be hanging out, in nomans land. Probably not the best thing, sound wise.( would probably look pretty bad also)

neither position is wonderful, probably why you see alot of TV's over the fireplace in these large "open concept" rooms. Just really no other place to put them. The only thing i could think of would be to basically put the TV just about sitting on the mantel, your sitting position would be a good 10 feet away, and with recliners.....MAY, MAY be passable.

Just a passing thought... How often are you going to be using the fireplace? Would it be possible to put the TV on a "light-weight" stand in-front of the fireplace, then move it off to the side when using the fireplace?

My folks have there plasma above the gas logs mantle, and it works fine. A lot has to do with how far back your sitting. Also, if you can angle the TV down a bit, it will be fine.

LMAO, well if i wasn't married...that may fly. In fact if i wasn't married, i have a hugh dinning room, that to me is a complete waste of space. i'd put the tv in there...LOL

but none of those ideas would work, as the wife would shot me..LOL

Yeah randy, i was thinking about that. If i put the tv almost sitting on the mantle, with an angle bracket, that i can tilt a little...may work. The seating position would be a good 10 feet back...heck it could be more if i wanted it. But even with a 50" plasma you don't want to be too far away. 10 feet is probably max.

The problem with this house is there is really only 1 wall you can use. The fireplace wall. The side walls....are just not there, they open to eating area's and such, so your stuck with this 1 wall.

The other problem with all this, is the upstairs, is really the wifes domain. It has to "LOOK" nice. So i can't be throwing speakers and stuff all over the place. More form then function sort to speak. The old Polks would work fine up there. BUT there hugh, need to be a foot off the back wall to work right. Altho they would probably work great...probably look VERY out of place in the room. I would probably have to go with some M2's on stands, so they don't stick out like sore thumbs, I may be able to get away with the Advents as back speakers sitting on the floor under a high table or something...there not really small either.

Maybe the better solution is to use the Advents as the fronts, as they will put out alot more bass, and can be put right up against the wall...so they really will not be in the way and NOT stick out that much. Put the M2's on some nice stands..up against the back wall...so they look, like nice decorative pieces in the room. The Advents will put out alot of volume and bass, as compared to the M2's (at least i would think so).

Probably the best solution to this room, and still have it look "NICE"...LOL While getting good sound.

Let me explain the Advents, there old reissue's from the late 80's of the original 1970 large Advents. They have updated tweeters and cross overs. That was it, there all gone now. no more speakers from this company that are worth a crap. I had the woofers redone a year ago...in a word, they work perfectly.

They produce great bass, and volume for there size. which is really not that small. They love to sit on the floor, and againist a wall...put out a lot of bass and volume.

For the best match i should probably go with the M3's on stands. Just work it like that. The Advents don't like stands, they like the floor, and at 10 feet back...will pretty much blow your face off if you crank them.

Bob, it seems to me that what you really need is dual EP800s

LMAO....Well your talking about 2 completely different spaces and rooms. The downstairs...my domain..is for the M80's..strict 2 channel.

The upstiars is the living room and a possiable HT set up.

Dual EP800s sounds like 2 channel to me.