Most living rooms have @ least one closet attached to them. We have two closets (one a coat closet in the room and one a hallway closet which runs behind the speaker wall). I use the hall closet for my electronics and run the speaker cable through the wall. Just the speakers/stands and three feet of speaker cable (times two) are in the living room. If this is not possible a nice looking furniture cabinet (wardrobe, low boy, etc.) can be gutted to the point that it will house an equipment rack so that the bottom spikes have access to the floor). This ends up being another form of closet/cabinet to hide the gear with no downside as long as ventilation is good (maybe open up the back)? I have used closets over the years to keep pets away from tube gear, plus they offer further isolation for TT's and CD players. We will be converting the coat closet to store LP's and overflow CD's when I am up to it. I also find listening to music more relaxing when the electronics are not in sight (kind of like being in a huge elevator with only the music to move/transport you:-).
