B&W 685C's

Sorry Tony, that confusing statement was to Mechans.

The hearth extends out from the wall, and 11" left and right of the fireplace itself. This is where the speakers stands will rest. The fireplace itself extends out 7.5" from the wall, up to 39" above the hearth, where the mantle extends over and above where the speakers will be, hence the 39" headroom figure. If using a 12" deep speakers the front baffles will be some 6-8" ahead of the face of the fireplace, do to the 12" speaker + some room behind, - the 7.5 deep fireplace.

I know getting these would be a big compromise with some music situations, but am willing to loose out on louder rock and such in order to get a better sound otherwise. I'm planning on being able to move the speakers off the hearth and to the carpet every once in a while to sooth my itch.
The room is 18' x 20', and yes, have already figured on working towards a sub. The wife liked that idea also.
I'll make the stands, if the stands I made for the Polks aren't good for the job. Figure on making them just a bit high for when they're on the hearth, so when they're on the carpet they may be just a touch low.
I'm definitely not stuck on 685's as if there's something else that comes along we may go that way. We both want a modern look, sized to fit and aren't too gutsy about trying brands we haven't heard of. Larger, classic styled boxes are pretty much out, good sound or not.

Doggitter, you may be able to devise a stand to accommodate your needs, but at 6-8" of over hang, your going to have more than half (the heavier half)of the speaker hanging off.

Look, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here and I can only speak from my own experience, but my room is a tad bit bigger than yours. I don't even have a fireplace to work with. I have an entertainment center and my limitations are that my speakers can't be more than 13" tall and they have to sit in enclosed shelves of about 2' wide and 18" deep. I feel your pain.

Now back to not ruffling feathers. Don't get me wrong. The 685s are nice speakers and can sound very good; however, they are more of a speaker that need to be accommodated rather than being accommodating. If you can't set them up at least close to right, they can get bright and the mid range can leave a lot to be desired. The sound stage can have you tearing your hair out looking for a compromise that you can live with. I just don't think that they are good speakers for a guy that has space limitations.

Just based on my experience over the last few years and trying a bunch of different speakers, I'd look for something with a nice silk dome tweeter that isn't sensitive to placement.

During your research reading reviews and such, pay attention when the reviewer goes over what he had to do to get the speakers sounding good. Also pay attention to the quality of the music shifting at different heights (sounding different when you're standing up as opposed to sitting down) and pay attention to the amplification used. Some speakers need a powerful amp to sound good.

Since you can get speakers up to 39 or so inches tall, I really can't make any recommendations. All of my experience recently has been with really small speakers.

Good luck.

I kinda thought nobody would be able to really help me, thanks for trying anyway.

The hearth, or base, of the fireplace that they'll be sitting on is 26" deep, front to back. So the area for them to sit on is 11"w x 26"d. Lots of room for the speakers to sit on. The vertical sides of the fireplace come out 7" from the wall, is what I meant.
I'm real bad at describing things sometimes.

I still stand by a lot of what I said. Still, you are looking for speakers that are going to sound good where you need them to be.

The upside is that if you have a Best Buy with a Magnolia in it, you can get the 685s and try them. If you don't like them, you can return them.

Been thinking the same thing, on credit card.