Okay, so I have a bit of a handicap being that my house was built in 1889 , but I was able to get a full 5.1 speaker configuration in our living room area.

In the front I'm currently using the 522D towers; The center is the 522D-C, placed under the TV in a little custom-made shelf that yours truly built with plywood and cinderblocks painted black; the S12 sub is next to the couch, with a lamp on it (I put felt pads under the base of the lamp to keep it from vibrating). The surround speakers (522D-LR) were tilted inwards towards the back wall to 1. keep the speakers from propagating directly in our ears, and 2. diffuse the sound more by reflecting sound off the back wall.

I used Cobalt cable Ultimate Speaker wire on the front speakers and Monster XP on the surrounds. The Onkyo SR800 is atop an antique drawer that we painted black. There’s also a little Buddha sculpture on top of the receiver that I consider my own custom-made shun-mook mpingo blocks.

the back wall...