My buddy just invested in a house and is looking for his first system. It would be for music only (and maybe 2 channel tv listening). His living room is long and he wants something that will fill the entire first floor with sound, the floor plan is very open. I was thinking since the living room is longer that floorstanders may not be the answer (they would face the short length of the living room).
What do you guys think about placing a few surround speakers in the living room (the ones that have multiple drivers facing different directions). I was thinking this would distribute sound the best, but maybe floorstanders would work. Has anyone here had experience with longer, skinnier living rooms?
Does he want background music or music to listen to? If the latter, what are his priorities? If he favors excellent soundstaging or the sense of a performer in front of him, then distributed speakers would be a very poor choice. Does he intend to use a HT receiver with surround facilities? Any ideas how he feels about fake surround generated by "five channel stereo" and other processed applications?
If it is going to be 2 channel, or 2.1, then speaker placement becomes even more critical, as will room treatment to get good results. Echo and tme delayed tricks with a receiver will get unpredicatable results, but all predictably incoherent for time and phase.