55” or 65” TV Screen Size and Your Speakers: Please Join Survey


 

With my two-way speaker build on hold as the clock ticks towards December 31st when my $1200.00 in Sony card points expire, I am struggling to decide between the 55” or 65” Sony A95L OLED TV. Sitting on chairs at Best Buy, I tape measured 11 ft from the 55”, which looked small, while the 65” looked too big at the same distance.

 

My largely empty living room is 20 ft x 11, with the west side open, crossing a 4 ft wide x 27 ft hallway and into a ~ 10 ft x 9 kitchen and then 3 ft wide staircase. A triangular ceiling that peaks at 11 ft is above it all.   

 

I plan to listen 10 ft from my speakers, with the TV between them and a foot or so behind the horns.

 

I built the 65” (56.9” w x 33” h) cardboard mock and to my eyes at 12 ft the 65” “screen” looks immersive.  

 

I will build the 55” (48.25” x 27.5”) mock as soon as I can get more cardboard from the local supermarket.

 

Meanwhile, it might be very helpful to learn of the experiences of other 55” and 65” TV users.

 

How far are you from one of those screen sizes?  

 

Do you sit on a chair or recliner?

 

Please describe the speakers that you use in place of the TV’s internal speakers, and how far you sit from them.

 

 

ajant

Thanks guys for the great feedback, though things aren’t good with a second look at the numbers. James’ room looks at least 50% bigger than mine, here on obscenely overpopulated, overtaxed Long Island, where the price of living space is equally obscene. Of course, > 3.5 decades of NAFTA driven bipartisan legislated massive over immigration made that inevitable. The 8.9” width difference between the 55” and 65” TVs can matter badly. Nope. On the 11 ft wall, the 65” TV, the speakers plus a foot between the speakers totals 14 ft, not including the subs. Even toeing in the speakers and subs would be a gamble to keep the right speaker and/or sub out of the hallway.

 

There would be plenty of room to put everything on the 20 ft wall but at least half of the back of my chair would be in the hallway.

The other option might be to place everything diagonally across the room, but that still might not work either.

Last resort for the 65” TV would be to use smaller speakers and dedicate my horn speakers for music listening. Not a desirable alternative, but unless you have a good-sized house Schiit Island’s a bad place to be an audiophile wanting to add a nice TV, where every inch counts here. But I’m stuck here until I retire; should have thought this through better.

Looks like it’s the 55” or nothing. At least that way if I got Revel or Wharfedale tower mains I could then fit a center speaker below the TV and still have my eyes on axis with the screen’s center, as a decent phantom center for movie dialogue my horn speakers is a big concern, though I doubt James has that problem with his JBLs.

 

 

We’ll never compromise audio for a bigger screen as you will regret it. Not wanting to move my left hand speaker closer to the wall is what stopped me from going with a 130” screen. Going from a 110” to a 120” screen was 7” wider and even having the speaker 7” closer to the wall affected the sound negatively. It is all a balancing act. 
 

I just use phantom center and see no reason not too (I have owned centers before). If you sit in the middle the sound is 100% correct in the center and I like to watch movies by myself. People talk about comb filtering on movies with phantom center as the speakers are in mono for most speech but as a very picky audiophile (aren’t we all) I have no issues with phantom center. The center is really a benefit for people off axis more than anything.   
 

On a side note I bought my house in Ohio for $95 a square foot… 

 

revel’s 226be is a nice sounding slender speaker if you ever wanted more room but I think they lack dynamics/snap next to a good horn. I would keep the horn and rock the phantom center. 

Current setup is a Sony 75” wall mounted TV. My head is 12’ away while sitting in my La-Z-Boy recliner, not reclined.

 

53" Sony approx 10 ft from viewing position (leather sofa); L/R are JBL horn-loaded 2-way stage monitors; C are two 12" from same series (daisy-chained); rear is summed signal to JBL tower w/2 of the 15" woofers; sub is 18" JBL stage.  Been considering a more "audiofool" setup until I watch a film with good soundtrack after which I always say "why?". (Today: Ghost in the Shell)