How tall are your ceilings?

8’ 

I'd post a picture of the setup but I seemed to not be able to.

Since your viewing distance is 9 ft from the TV, if you want to get the most from your upward firing speakers from Dolby Atmos content, I would put the Arc on your console or get the taller TV stand. Depending on the depth of your console, this would allow you to get your Arc a little closer to your viewing location, and the taller TV stand would get the Arc a little closer to the ceiling. Of course you would have to find a way to hide your cables.

I have 8 ft ceilings and my Arc is on my console 2 ft from the floor. The height effects from the upward firing speakers on my Arc are most noticeable about 7 ft away from the Arc.

Thanks for your detailed advice!  I’m already planning to hide wires for the TV, cable box, and new Apple TV.  I currently have one of those “outside the wall” speaker channels that is not visually pleasing, in general, plus is off-centered.  It’s just odd looking.  If I decide to sit the Arc on the console (old or new), I’ll just tuck that HDMI cable into the in-wall system I’m having installed.  I’ll just have to worry about the cable from the back of the Arc across the console (I’m not sure if it’s possible to hide those). 

On another note, my new TV is 57.2” wide.  Will that look OK with a 60” console under it (current one).  The ones I’m looking at are 63.5” wide, but I wondered if I should go with 70”.  I’m a bit worried that would overpower the wall it’s on (it’s a short wall).  

I prefer the look of a wider console, but the TV above a 60” console should look fine too. If the TV was wider than the console, I think that would look bad. How wide is the wall?

Agreed that a wider console than television is best.  Would look really odd to have a TV wider than console.  

The usable wall space I have is 8’3”, with a hallway leading away from the living area at the left edge of the wall.  The wall basically stops at the hallway.  At the right edge of the usable wall space is a closet.  

I think the 60”, 63.5”, and 70” would all look good with your wall. Even with a 70” wide console, that still gives you 14.5” on either side. But if you plan on putting your Sub on one side with the long side of the Sub facing forward, you should stick with the 60” console.

Thank you!  I just started online shopping for 70” stands  Sub placement-good point.  The in-home consultation guy from Best Buy suggested I put the sub in a rear corner, but kind of figured I would try different locations to see what is best.  When I had Klipsch reference speakers (in a much bigger stand-alone house), I had the sub in the left corner, out of necessity, and it seemed to work.  I haven’t looked yet to see what is recommended for the Sonos sub.

Perhaps this will help you decide:

Wow!  Thanks for sketch!  Very helpful!  I definitely like both the 63.5 and 70 better than my current one. I’m leaning toward the 70, I think.  Actually, if space permitted, I’d like even longer, but that is not possible.  Which one is your preference of these 3?  

The 70 is also 7” higher than my current one, so that means the TV might need to go up a bit to create some space between the TV and sound bar.  With the 63.5, it’s only 4 inches higher than my current one.  If I got the 70, I would either need to put the sub vertically against the front wall or in the corner beside the sofa.  Lots of choices/decisions!  

If you can mount the TV a little higher, I would go with the 70” primarily because it gets the Arc 7” closer to the ceiling which would help you get a better height effect from the upward firing speakers.

Here’s an updated graphic with the new dimensions:

I feel like I’m going to owe you for the advice and making these sketches!  They are much appreciated, as is your advice!  I tend to get obsessive about shopping for home theater stuff...well, I tend to get obsessive about everything.  

Moving the TV would be easy, since mounting is already part of the installation I have paid for.  If I got the 70”, that's what I would do.

To circle back around to my original post (because I don’t like to leave any stone unturned :)), you would definitely put the Arc on a console instead of the mount that attaches to the TV?  It would hang just below the TV and would actually connect to the TV mount, so would be even closer to the ceiling.  This mount allows you to move the Arc out so the TV does not impede on the up firing speakers.  It even allows you to move the Arc down also, if one chose to do that, although not sure what that would look like with wires, etc.  

I’m a graphic designer, so those images are pretty easy for me to create. I did the same thing for my setup and it really helped me too.

I honestly don’t love the look of the Sanus mount, but if you want the flexibility the mount offers, it might be worth it. 

The main reason I chose placing the Arc on the console is to get the Arc closer to your 9 ft viewing distance. By placing it on the console, you could potentially get the Arc almost a foot closer to where you are sitting which I believe would help get you closer to the “sweet spot” of where the height channels of the Dolby Atmos audio will be heard the best after it reflects off of the ceiling. If your viewing distance was 7-8 ft away, I would say either mounting or placing the Arc on the console would work about the same.

Cool that you’re a graphic designer.  I’m a college music teacher, on sabbatical, so I have time to obsess about home audio and TV :)  My initial reaction to the Sanus mount of the Arc was the same as yours.  I wasn’t crazy about it, and in fact wrote to Best Buy to see if I could change my mind and either mount it separately or mount it by itself.  He assured me it would look nice, but said I could change my mind and get a refund on the mount and labor if I decided to place it on the console

I get that the mount is most useful when attached to a full-motion mount because it can pivot with the TV.  I do not need to do that because there is no need for different viewing angles.  

I am certainly now inclined to put it on the console, which saves me money on the mount and labor, but will cost a bit more in a better stand (I’m fine with that).  The stand I’m currently looking at comes in 70” and 60” and both lengths are 30” tall.  I just taped out what 70” would look like and I think it’ll work in my space.  If I could post a pic, I would, but the top of the console is 4” below the bottom of the TV, and with the Arc being 3.4” tall, that leaves .6” between, so moving the TV up will definitely be needed.  The stands are 20” deep, so can get them away from the TV about 17-18” depending on how flush the TV is.  I believe I ordered a tilt mount.