So much depends on your space and what is tolerable. For example, I have a Linn system in my family room, which is about the largest size my wife will allow. Just some of the original Linn Kann's so very little space taken up. I'm still amazed at how low those little speakers will go and what they can do with vocals. The sound source is a Tascam CD-200BT, that gives me a bluetooth option for streaming. Prior to, I had some JBL 4312's in the same space and was reminded they created too much awareness they are there.
Depending on your situation, you may want to look at the in-wall speakers? From there you can hide the wiring and the system completely. I don't have any experience with these but there are some good names in the business.
Also with a living room you often get into open doors and all that create a dilemma for speaker placement. For example, I have a screened in porch with a brick wall at 90 degrees and another 90 degrees of total open. A sonic nightmare of sorts. What I did there was some self created transmission line speakers from PVC pipe and used a single driver from Dayton Audio for each channel. Also used one of their class D amps with bluetooth. Sounds pretty good and makes my wife happy. It is completely out of the way and actually was able to get frequency as low as my JBL 4312's. Was very surprised by the magic of the transmission line.
