Living Room Speakers That Also Look Good.

[sumitkpandit]

As time is coming close when I move to a new appartment, I have been entrusted now with also the responsibility of interior decoration of common areas.

This is now forcing me to move away from big black boxes for speakers but go for something that can almost dissolve with the room decor. Look suddenly has become important for me.

Just to give you some background context, I am in the process of deciding a budget (audio < 1,00,000) home theater setup for my living room. Walls and ceiling are concrete. So, in-wall/ceiling speakers are not an option. I do not want to mess a lot with ceiling so, atmos may not be something I will be able to install. Anyway, I will have to do some messing up with it for projector mounting. Wiring clean will be another challenge.

If I cannot place atmos speakers properly, is 5.1 good enough? And yes the main question, what speaker look good and sound good too?

 

[vaasu]

My suggestion for movies :- Definitive technology SM45 bookshelfs, deftech pro 1000 center and def tech satellite surrounds with denon x2xxx receiver. Dialogue from center channel is very clear. Subwoofer is a must.

My suggestion for music/movies :- Mission qx2 bookshelfs, qx-c center and mission qx2/lx2 surrounds. Very good for music but dialogues may be muffled in some scenes as it is living room (acoutics matter). Can avoid subwoofer for now and later u can add it.

 

[vaasu]

i have 5.1 setup. my surrounds (lx2) are placed 3.5 to 4 feet above my ears (listening position), some movies with dolby atmos surround sound in some scenes i feel like sound coming from ceiling speakers.

 

[raghupb]

<snip>

This is now forcing me to move away from big black boxes for speakers but go for something that can almost dissolve with the room decor. Look suddenly has become important for me.

Just to give you some background context, I am in the process of deciding a budget (audio < 1,00,000) home theater setup for my living room. <snip>

Monitor Audio Radius.
Have two pairs of the little cubes. Works well for both HT and music.
If 1L is the budget for the entire HT setup, maybe not the right choice.
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[rshri]

As time is coming close when I move to a new appartment, I have been entrusted now with also the responsibility of interior decoration of common areas.

This is now forcing me to move away from big black boxes for speakers but go for something that can almost dissolve with the room decor. Look suddenly has become important for me.

@sumitkpandit What you need are called "Lifestyle Speakers". I have been eyeing them myself. However, they are more expensive (and less efficient) than usual "black boxes". For example -
Q Acoustics 7000i 5.1 Slim

 

[k-pad]

As time is coming close when I move to a new appartment, I have been entrusted now with also the responsibility of interior decoration of common areas.

+100 for the person who took this decision.

This is now forcing me to move away from big black boxes for speakers but go for something that can almost dissolve with the room decor. Look suddenly has become important for me.

Just to give you some background context, I am in the process of deciding a budget (audio < 1,00,000) home theater setup for my living room. Walls and ceiling are concrete. So, in-wall/ceiling speakers are not an option. I do not want to mess a lot with ceiling so, atmos may not be something I will be able to install. Anyway, I will have to do some messing up with it for projector mounting. Wiring clean will be another challenge.

If I cannot place atmos speakers properly, is 5.1 good enough? And yes the main question, what speaker look good and sound good too?

From my auditions, the effects that come from height speakers are really worth it, but only if the kind of content you watch is more towards that side of things.

Most boxes do look good. The ugliest in my book (Emotivas) has every owner raving for its sound-price value.

you could look at wall mounted satellites (5) and a suitable sub inside 1L. But you'll need an AVR too -- roughly around 50K. Cables and concealing will be over all this, depending on how you do it.
Regards

 

[Raj22]

Kef T series can be looked into, they sit flush on the walls.
However there are a lot of good looking bookshelf speakers out there, many go well with decor. Recently I've moved into new apartment and my KEF R3 suits very well! It's very subjective matter though.

 

[concaf]

Controversial opinion, but you can check Q950A for a true aesthetic and clean setup. Or wait for Sony HT A9 to launch in India. Check out Andrew Robinson's reviews for both on YouTube.