WC,
A lot of good questions, I just had a few thoughts that hopefully might prove helpful:
1. At only 15% width to length difference, I think aesthetics and functionality should dictate which wall to assign as "front". Since the listening room is doubling as a home theater, I suggest it may be better to use the 22' as front so that you can accommodate more side by side seating that is slightly more optimally situated for listeners and a slightly wider soundstage which I think you prefer. Best situation is that both speakers and listener seat are 1/3 in from front and back walls respectively but that might be challenging with this space. Front L&R should also be well away from side walls (again, technically ideal for 1/3 in/each but rarely, practically achievable. IME the more "air" around any speaker, the better they perform.
2. On the TV side, I have mounted mine such that during serious 2 channel listening, I push the tv all the way back against the wall to optimize sound. When I am watching TV/Movies, the TV mount extends out nearly 2 feet. I sit approximately 13 feet away so this changes the "apparent" size of the TV by nearly 20%. I can "hear" the impact of having the TV extended when I am listening to 2 channel only so if you are going to have a TV in between the speakers, make sure you minimize the impact as much as possible. With speakers centered and 4' off each side wall, assuming a 2-1/2' speaker width that leaves a maximum space of only 9'. 100" would fit... 85" would fit with breathing room. If you use the 1/3 in rule, inside speaker boundary would each extend more than 8' in leaving only 6' in between, making your maximum size be 85" but that would be tight. I know you well enough to suspect you are going to want as big as possible. Bigger visual competes with less good 2 channel sound. A projector would allow a bigger screen but if you use the extendable mount, this difference is mitigated. If you sit with ears 4' off the back wall (already less than recommended!) and your speakers are 4' off the front wall that puts your center line only 11' in front of you. With TV mounted flush, your sitting 14.5' away, extended out 2' brings it to 12.5', an apparent screen size increase approaching 20%...
3. My listening room/home theater is approximately 50% larger than your space and I am running 7.1 surround. For my room, I would prefer to be running 7.1 atmos and someday I may upgrade, but... Many times I have considered removing side surrounds and just using rears as my forced layout pushes my primary side surrounds slightly in front of listener position which is highly undesirable. I am not experienced with the latest multi-speaker systems but to be frank, when you are listening to 2 channel music, every additional speaker that you have in the room other than primaries becomes a passive resonator that smears and colors what you are hearing. For this reason, the best high end dealers physically remove unused speakers from the room whenever possible. Following this dictate, for your 2 channel experience, the less additional channels, the better. If I were setting up a room your size where you love huge speakers and a big soundstage, that is going to take up a lot of real estate for home theater. This involves a pretty big prioritization decision on your part. Do I want the best home theater or do I want to emphasize my 2 channel reviewing and have a reasonably good home theater experience? That's on you, bud!
4. I would suggest a 3 shelf x 3 shelf rack plus amp stand(s) in front and the height should allow for reasonable TV viewing without obstruction. If you pull them off the back wall, you can easily get behind to swap cables and components without doing major surgery every time. If they are on the side wall, they are going to need to be moved back tightly against the wall so as to not interfere with listening geometries. Most ideal might be having all equipment except amps behind listener but now you are talking a fresh mortgage for the 10 meter interconnects! As we talked at Axpona, there is a reason that many of the best rooms were using Critical Mass Systems racks...
5. In room / in window AC would be a mistake. Find a unit where fan and compressor are removed from room. They exist!
6. Power. Pick a configuration and go all out on power (multiple, dedicated 20 amp lines, isolated ground--although I am beginning to believe the grounds for the entire system should be shared instead of separate for each circuit). Finally, in case you change your mind on room configuration in the future, have your electrician install some extra conduit to the alternative position. If the conduit is there, it's cheap to have an electrician come and pull new cables! Might be the best extra $200 bucks you ever spent!
Already writing too much but hope that my thought process might be helpful and inspire some discussion... Disclaimer: No matter what decisions are made there are going to be tradeoffs. I don't pretend to think other people might choose to put their compromises in different places and that is why we can have so much fun discussing!
A lot of good questions, I just had a few thoughts that hopefully might prove helpful:
1. At only 15% width to length difference, I think aesthetics and functionality should dictate which wall to assign as "front". Since the listening room is doubling as a home theater, I suggest it may be better to use the 22' as front so that you can accommodate more side by side seating that is slightly more optimally situated for listeners and a slightly wider soundstage which I think you prefer. Best situation is that both speakers and listener seat are 1/3 in from front and back walls respectively but that might be challenging with this space. Front L&R should also be well away from side walls (again, technically ideal for 1/3 in/each but rarely, practically achievable. IME the more "air" around any speaker, the better they perform.
2. On the TV side, I have mounted mine such that during serious 2 channel listening, I push the tv all the way back against the wall to optimize sound. When I am watching TV/Movies, the TV mount extends out nearly 2 feet. I sit approximately 13 feet away so this changes the "apparent" size of the TV by nearly 20%. I can "hear" the impact of having the TV extended when I am listening to 2 channel only so if you are going to have a TV in between the speakers, make sure you minimize the impact as much as possible. With speakers centered and 4' off each side wall, assuming a 2-1/2' speaker width that leaves a maximum space of only 9'. 100" would fit... 85" would fit with breathing room. If you use the 1/3 in rule, inside speaker boundary would each extend more than 8' in leaving only 6' in between, making your maximum size be 85" but that would be tight. I know you well enough to suspect you are going to want as big as possible. Bigger visual competes with less good 2 channel sound. A projector would allow a bigger screen but if you use the extendable mount, this difference is mitigated. If you sit with ears 4' off the back wall (already less than recommended!) and your speakers are 4' off the front wall that puts your center line only 11' in front of you. With TV mounted flush, your sitting 14.5' away, extended out 2' brings it to 12.5', an apparent screen size increase approaching 20%...
3. My listening room/home theater is approximately 50% larger than your space and I am running 7.1 surround. For my room, I would prefer to be running 7.1 atmos and someday I may upgrade, but... Many times I have considered removing side surrounds and just using rears as my forced layout pushes my primary side surrounds slightly in front of listener position which is highly undesirable. I am not experienced with the latest multi-speaker systems but to be frank, when you are listening to 2 channel music, every additional speaker that you have in the room other than primaries becomes a passive resonator that smears and colors what you are hearing. For this reason, the best high end dealers physically remove unused speakers from the room whenever possible. Following this dictate, for your 2 channel experience, the less additional channels, the better. If I were setting up a room your size where you love huge speakers and a big soundstage, that is going to take up a lot of real estate for home theater. This involves a pretty big prioritization decision on your part. Do I want the best home theater or do I want to emphasize my 2 channel reviewing and have a reasonably good home theater experience? That's on you, bud!
4. I would suggest a 3 shelf x 3 shelf rack plus amp stand(s) in front and the height should allow for reasonable TV viewing without obstruction. If you pull them off the back wall, you can easily get behind to swap cables and components without doing major surgery every time. If they are on the side wall, they are going to need to be moved back tightly against the wall so as to not interfere with listening geometries. Most ideal might be having all equipment except amps behind listener but now you are talking a fresh mortgage for the 10 meter interconnects! As we talked at Axpona, there is a reason that many of the best rooms were using Critical Mass Systems racks...
5. In room / in window AC would be a mistake. Find a unit where fan and compressor are removed from room. They exist!
6. Power. Pick a configuration and go all out on power (multiple, dedicated 20 amp lines, isolated ground--although I am beginning to believe the grounds for the entire system should be shared instead of separate for each circuit). Finally, in case you change your mind on room configuration in the future, have your electrician install some extra conduit to the alternative position. If the conduit is there, it's cheap to have an electrician come and pull new cables! Might be the best extra $200 bucks you ever spent!
Already writing too much but hope that my thought process might be helpful and inspire some discussion... Disclaimer: No matter what decisions are made there are going to be tradeoffs. I don't pretend to think other people might choose to put their compromises in different places and that is why we can have so much fun discussing!
