Hate fireplace in home theater room

A friend has had it for 20 years. Works out good. Build a shelf behind the mantle for ctr spkr, cable or receiver box and BluRay
He used to have Tandberg R2R there but as we know they weren't built to last.

I have this fingertouch drop-down TV mount for a 2.1 FR audio system that includes the flatpanel TV, the TV cab be above the fireplace that permits it to be dropodd  down to optimum viewing level ( and fingertouch slide back up over the fireplace when not in use)
MANTELMOUNT.CA

https://mantelmount.ca/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5tfusqvO6wIVk-eGCh09MQ9CEAAYASAAEgI4WPD_BwE

My late aunt in London claimed that every British home had to have fireplace (many of them had just a bulb imitating fire). In US, I do have fireplace, but almost never use it. It is a toy, wasting energy. I went to fireplace store and asked about better efficiency. They told me that in order to get efficient heating I need an "insert" and redo of the chimney (expensive). This should get me 60k BTU, about the same as my gas furnace can deliver now. Too much for me.|

Audio gear in front of fireplace looks weird, I agree, but perhaps there is some way to mask it. I have the same problem, hoping to move to larger living room without it.