Flatscreen between speakers

@spenav  Been operating a shop in the roaring fork valley for 33 years. Lots of people have woodworking as a hobby for good reason.   Something about creating things is very satisfying.  I feel like the same can be said about musicians and the desire to make and create music. .

Other than having a flat screen between your fronts, instead of diffusion panels, I am not aware of any other compromises.

Each system runs completely independent, with the exception of the fronts & front amp via HT pass through. I have an SQL sub for 2 channel and a SPL sub for HT.

Any compromises were more around what I was willing to spend. And I love to watch sports while streaming Qobuz. 

I guess I am pretty well screwed.  I have a small house, and my system is in a small room.  The room is also my computer room.  So my 32" monitory is on a table  in between my speakers. I am virtually always using my computer while I listen to music so I can't cover my screen.  I wonder if it would help (I know try it) if I would put some absorbing panels on the side of the monitor extending into the room?

@spenav 

A thick mat, like the one being heavily marketed for pets/people coming into the dwelling should work well

@spenav I see you are on a path with the dust cover.  Too bad camo wasn’t available in cotton.  Will be interesting to hear about how that works out.  Looks like your speakers are well into the room and your TV is well back of your speakers.  Not sure whether that reduces the impact of the flat screen on sound or just changes it.  Having the space from the back wall likely allows you to get some good depth in the soundstage which is great.  

My system is all on the wall in a purpose built AV/audio room.  I realize I am giving up soundstage depth but other aspects of reproduced sound are more important to me and I just like the clean layout.  On my TV I am using a medium weight wool blanket to cover 65” TV when listening to music.  It is not the thickest wool blanket I have tried, but it sounds the best. Center fill locks in, instrument placement improves both laterally and vertically, and there is much less glare in treble at volume.  The value of having the blanket in place has increased directly with improvements in analog and digital front ends and cables.  With the blanket over the TV I can get to recording studio volumes now and impact without noticeable distortion, which is fun in short bursts.  The blanket is bigger than the monitor so I drape it longways over the top and roll the overhang on each edge and stuff the rolls behind the TV to flatten the front face and to block sound from getting behind it.  I do not recommend lightweight fleece blankets as that did not improve sound nearly as much.  Heavy wool blankets, heavy cotton blankets and cotton towels all sounded worse, some worse than the TV alone.

As for the “where it belongs” statement, I have definite opinions and agree with many of the comments here that there is no dogma on this topic.  Call me old-fashioned but TVs in the living room are red card foul.  My opinion and a very subjective one.

For years in previous homes we had our two-channel sound system in our living room and our TV/home theater in a separate small bedroom space.  When we rescued and moved the main floor of an old house to a new lot I intended to have a two-channel system in the living room and a surround/two channel hybrid system for watching TV, movies and serious listening sessions in a new purpose built basement room described in the link above.  The acoustics in the purpose built room are very good.  In our 100 year old plaster walled, multi windowed, tile, wood and brick fireplaced living room, not so much.  So much not good that I abandoned having a decent system there in favor of a good Bluetooth speaker for background music, audio books and news - all serious listening is in the purpose room downstairs.

As for center channels and multi-speaker music listening versus serious two channel set ups, the better my sources the more I appreciate two-channel versus multi-channel reproduction with DSP.  But sometimes, listening to something like Miles Davis “Tribute to Jack Johnson” with 13 drivers around the room and 1,000 watts on tap is a revelation.  In all things HiFi, YMMV.

kn