Speakers near fireplace


I’m moving and in the new house it seems the best speaker position would be to have them on each side of the fireplace. They’re Vandersteen 2CE Signatures. I want to put them about a foot or so to the right/left of the fireplace and about 1-1/2 feet in front of the wall with the fireplace.

There are glass doors on the fireplace but I’m thinking of replacing that with a screen.

I would plan on putting the amp, etc. further to one side of the left speaker. The only real problem I see is that there will be a cable running across the floor (in front of the fireplace) to the right speaker. That and I will have one speaker close to the amp. In the past my rig was basically in the middle of both speakers, what’s the best way to handle 12’ of cable with only 2-3 feet needed on the one side?
jetson
Thanks all, yes it's the heat I'm worried about more than the SQ. 

@gdnrbob - I'm using metal because that has a high heat capacity so it will be the most accurate to test for how hot a black body will get.

If I end up making radiation shields they won't be metal, or at least not all metal. I doubt I'll make radiation shields though, I will likely either have proven it's safe or move the speakers when using the fireplace.
If I was in that situation--I'd seal off the flue, put in some of the ultra-real looking LED candles that flicker, and ditch the glass.  It would look great, no speaker degradation, and you'd have better air quality to boot.  Actually did that at my last home and it looked great and my wife's asthma was better for it as well. 

I had to place one speaker (dynaudios) close to fireplace as well at old house ...thought it was far enough away and monitored and felt the side of it,it was fairly warm... but not hot...had big family gathering at xmas and fireplace got super heated... I had to get one of the woofer’s repaired because of damage from the heat,...lesson learned...

yeah the air quality was horrible as well...never got adequate air ventalation...


My fireplace is in the center of the wall and my speakers are 4 feet in front of that  wall. The center channel seems to emanate from the depths of the fireplace when the glass doors are pushed aside; I consider the fireplace an asset as opposed to a liability.

Maybe it's because one of my drivers is a Heil Airmotion Transformer, which is dipole, meaning music is projected front and rear, but I get an excellent holographic sound stage.
Have you considered rotating the whole room 90 degrees counter-clockwise?  This would put the speakers on the wall to the left of the fireplace.  It may resolve your issues, and even sound a little better for when you are dining.  You would want some absorption and bass trapping on the wall opposite the speakers, and the open wall has no reflection... but at least you would have less worries with the FP.  And, you'd still retain your FP view from the couches.

Just a thought.