[knocks]

I have a homebuilt HTPC in my living room. The HTPC is used both for music and for standard definition digital cable/DVDs. I had it hooked up to an old set of BA stereo speakers, but the left speaker just bit the dust. It's been suggested that I get 5.1 surround sound.

As you can see from the attached diagram, our living room is never going to be a true home theater, especially since we're not planning to go HDTV any time soon. The room is difficult enough to arrange just as a living space; I have no idea how to go about arranging speakers with an offset viewscreen. To make things more complicated, I hang out on the couch and my husband sits in the recliner. We also have an extremely clumsy, large labrador retriever, so speaker stands are not an option.

If all the home theater buffs can stop shuddering over SDTV and our living room arrangement I'd appreciate any suggestions on where to put speakers.

[LUMBERMAN]

SATALITE SPEAKER STANDS CAN BE PLACED AROUND THE ROOM TO GIVE A DECENT SURROUND SOUND. HOWEVER WITH THE LAYOUT YOU HAVE NOW IT WON'T BE 100% BUT YOU CAN ALSO LOOK INTO SOME OF THE NEW SOUND BARS ON THE MARKET OR EVEN BOSE HAS A GOOD 3.2.1 SYSTEM THAT IS REASONABLE. CHECK EBAY.

[Dogg]

You should be able to get a decent sound stage with your setup. For movie watching, I would look at getting a small wall mount speaker set (such as these: *sorry - can't posts urls...but check out the 5.1 JBL sets at bestbuy). Granted, there are better, depending on your budget, but these can easily be mounted where you need them. The biggest chore is wire management. It's fairly simple to attach them along the baseboards and stretch them up tight to the speaker mount. And as with any speakers, it is best to go and hear them for yourself.

[knocks]

Thanks, but my real question is where to put them. Budget is not really a concern. Remember speaker stands are not an option unless they are out of the way (retrievers have violent tails.)

Also, as you can see from the layout, the screen is in a corner of the room, viewers sit in widely separated areas, and there are lots of open doorways to make wiring challenging (even with wireless rear speakers). There's a picture window covering most of one wall and a fireplace covering most of another wall. The third wall is open to the dining room, and has a doorway to the kitchen. The fourth wall has a closet door and an open stairway, as well as being close to the outside door which swings inward.

So where do I put speakers???