Home office redesign · working draft · updated Sep 13, 2026
TV centered on the north wall, easy chair centered on the south wall with its back to the windows. Same equipment and placement rules as Layout A, turned 90°.
All dimensions in inches. Speakers are toed in so each aims ≈12″ outboard of the MLP on its own side — wide of your shoulders rather than straight at your head (dotted lines) — as a starting point. Computed positions are marked ≈; measured ones are exact.
The same ≈280–420 Hz back-wall cancellation as Layout A, but the surface behind the headrest is Window 1 / Window 2 glass. Covering the windows is fine, so a 4″+ absorber mounted over W1 and W2 behind the headrest handles it — standing off the 2″ sills. With the A/C venting through W3, W1 and W2 can be covered all the way down.
First reflections land ≈56–63″ from the north wall. On the east that's drywall; on the west it's the shut south door leaf — 2 × 5 glass lites. Since that leaf stays closed, a panel can hang over it, but untreated the two sides won't match.
With speaker fronts 28″ off the north wall, the reflection off that wall cancels a band around ≈120 Hz — above a typical 80 Hz sub crossover, so EQ can't fill it. Thick (4–6″) absorption on the north wall behind each speaker makes it shallower; measure before settling on the crossover.
Front-to-back is now the 130″ dimension: the MLP sits on the peak of the 52 / 104 / 156 Hz modes, close to the 56 Hz height mode. Across the 158″ width, the centered MLP is in the 43 Hz null and on the 86 Hz peak.
The NW bookshelf sits ≈4–5″ from the west LS50, while the east side has open wall — so the west side will run bassier. Options: plug the west LS50's port, move the bookshelf, or measure and let room correction even out the sides.
At ≈8.1–8.5 ft instead of ≈9.5 ft, both pairs play ≈1–2 dB louder than Layout A for the same amp power, with wider stereo angles (≈48–52° LS50 outside, ≈37–42° Q3 inside).
The screen faces all three south windows and their transoms. Blinds and transom shades help; panels over the windows would remove the glare entirely, at the cost of daylight.
The 28″ bookshelf fills the NE corner. The 58″ × 28″ desk is centered on the east wall, back to the wall and facing west (36–94″ from the north wall, 8″ below the bookshelf), ≈36½″ from the recliner. The 30″ bookshelf sits directly south of the desk, back to the east wall and facing west (94–123⅞″), ≈6⅛″ short of the south wall. The east-wall reflection point (≈56–63″) sits above the desk, so a panel there still works.
An 80″ × 24″ door laid flat makes a desk along the west wall (50–130″ from the north wall), resting on two file cabinets that act as legs — one at each end, backs to the wall, drawers opening east — for a top at about 30¾″. A third file cabinet sits on the desk's NW corner directly over the W leg cabinet (≈60″ tall together), and the wine rack sits on its SW corner against the south wall, facing east (≈63″ tall), leaving ≈50″ between the legs. The sub sits under the desk against the north leg (see below), so ≈35″ of that is knee space. The desk starts ≈11″ past the active door leaf's swing. Its north end (two cabinets + door, ≈60″ tall) sits right at the west-wall reflection zone (≈56–63″ from the north wall), so that spot reflects off the stack. Seated at the door desk there's ≈28″ to the chair's side table, which now sits against W1's sill. The SW cabinet's drawers clear that table by ≈1½″, but reach ≈1¾″ past the start of W1's sill.
Two identical racks sit side by side on the north wall directly under the TV, backs to the wall, meeting on the room's centerline (47.2″ wide together, 55⅜–102⅝″ from the west wall — inside the screen's width at every TV size). The TV's bottom edge has to clear their 30.3″ tops, so the screen sits high — tilt it down toward the MLP. The racks stay below tweeter height, ≈4¼–9″ from the inner Q3s depending on TV size, so the speakers' paths to you stay open, and cable runs to the TV and speakers are short. The sub has moved under the door desk on the west wall: facing east, flush against the north leg cabinet (65–80″ from the north wall), and pulled ≈10¾″ off the wall so its front lines up with the cabinet fronts, ≈77″ from your ears. Pulling it off the wall changes the modeled bass by under 1 dB. In a simple room model, overall bass unevenness at the chair stays about the same as its old spot beside the rack (≈24 dB from 30–90 Hz), but the deepest dip moves from ≈60–65 Hz down to ≈35–45 Hz (≈−14 dB), and level drops ≈3 dB. Room correction can cut the new peaks near 55 and 85 Hz, but it can't fill that dip, and the main speakers don't reach that low. The door top, the metal cabinet drawers, and the glass door lites next to it may rattle.
The active door opens beside the west speaker pair; with the speakers pulled back there's a ≈43″ walkway between them and the chair. The A/C sits ≈3¼ ft from your ears. Matching side tables flank the recliner, both slid back against the sills.
Compared with a 77″ TV in both layouts. Bold marks the stronger option.
| Layout A | Layout B-1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Viewing angle | 30° on a ≈21″ arm | ≈32° flush on the wall |
| Distance to speakers | ≈10.5–10.8 ft | ≈8.1–8.5 ft (≈2 dB louder) |
| Stereo angle | 44° LS50 outside · 36° Q3 inside | 50° LS50 outside · 39° Q3 inside |
| Speakers to side walls | ≈6″ (south LS50, group shifted south) | ≈32″ (LS50) |
| Furniture conflicts | None within 12″ (rack now under the TV) | West LS50 ≈4½–5½″ from the NW bookshelf; inner Q3s ≈4¼–9″ from the audio racks; east LS50 ≈8–11″ from the desk |
| Rear-port clearance | ≈16″ | ≈16″ |
| Front-wall cancellation | ≈120 Hz | ≈120 Hz |
| TV vs speaker fronts | ≈5″ behind | ≈24″ behind |
| Side-wall reflections | Drywall north, W2 glass south — both treatable | Drywall east, shut glass door west — both treatable |
| Wall behind your head | Drywall and shut glass door — panel covers both | W1/W2 glass — panel covers it fully (A/C is on W3) |
| Screen glare | Windows to the side | Windows facing the screen — panels or blinds needed |
| A/C | Stays at Window 1, ≈25″ from chair | Moves to W3, east of the chair, ≈3¼ ft from ears |
| Entry | Beside the chair | Past the west speaker pair |
| Open wall for a desk | North wall, beside the NW bookshelf | Centered on the east wall, facing west |
Existing conditions and equipment dimensions are listed on Layout A.