I'm just putting the finishing touches on a basement multipurpose room. The TV area is basically a 10' wide fireplace nook with room for a deep sectional, viewers would sit about 9-10' from the TV. Ceilings are a bit low (7.5') and there's an old wood burning masonry fireplace. I've lowered the height of the mantle to about 44", and re-set the bricks so there's still about 10" between the top of the firebox and the mantle. The way it is now there would be about 4.5" of breathing room all around a 75" TV - that would land about 4.5" from both the ceiling and top of the mantle (about 14.5" distance between firebox and TV). The TV is further shielded from heat by being set in/back about 8" from the front lip of the mantle, but this fireplace will not burn wood anymore: it will probably get a low BTU direct-vent gas, or an electric, insert.
With a 75" set, it doesn't leave me tons of room for a soundbar/centre, but I could go with a phantom centre channel set-up or an ultrathin soundbar...
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