How is a stand, even a slimline stand, any different than floor standing speakers? Yes, if the entire console and TV are pulled out from the corner, there is room on either side for floor standing speakers (or stand mount speakers). But that is what we're trying to get away from: having the console out farther from the corner looks terrible, aesthetically - it dominates the room.
In short, the maximum width of
everything (TV, speakers, and console) is the width of the TV itself. That allows us to push everything back towards the wall, and makes the room much less cluttered. We will likely get a new TV soon, same screen size, but a more modern one without the thick bezel. Which means total width will go down a few more inches.
Here is another idea I had, whipped up quickly in Paint. This is not to scale, but hopefully gives the idea: instead of putting speakers on their side, they are vertical (as designed). But they will be very low to the ground, on very short stands. We will purchase a new console that is considerably narrower, so the speakers can sit on either side of the console, but the speaker+console+speaker width is still less than the TV width:
View attachment 180572
Of course, the speakers are still close to walls, probably too close together, and basically at knee level, rather than ear level. But at least they are vertical! With good vertical dispersion, maybe being pointed at our knees isn't so bad. The other limitations (near walls, close together) are impossible to avoid with this setup.
Thoughts?