Equipment Rack Between Speakers...Good or Bad

I have my system and tv in-between, no other choice so I deal with it. but I do find if I angle the TV (mounted on the wall) up apposed to down it makes a difference in the sound staging. quite noticeable. not sure what is better but it was an eyeopener as to how much sound is coming from the center in reflection. 

I need to find a nice way to do room acoustics that are not homely looking for a main living area (I live in a loft).

Put your speakers as far in front of the rack as your room allows.   Problem solved.

there are really 2 questions.

1---looking at your picture, would it be better to move the rack to the side?
2---in a perfect situation, is it better to have the rack between the speakers or on the side.

answer 1---in your case it’s better to keep the rack there as it provides some break-up of reflections from the flat back wall. maybe if your room is big enough to get your speakers farther from the wall behind and you could add some diffusion on that wall, now maybe getting the rack out of the way would be a net gain.

answer 2---yes; when chasing perfection a rack between your speakers at some point becomes a liability. and while on the side is not perfect, the net gain is for the side location.

look at pictures of my system here for where it’s better on the side; my room is purpose built and finely tuned. much of which could not be done with gear between the speakers.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/615

Its a trade off. In my room over the years its been quite the sound lab. At first completely empty it was easy to hear even the smallest change. Put just one amp on the floor between the speakers, or a TV screen, even way back a good 5 feet behind the speakers, doesn't matter the sound stage takes a hit. 

One time, true story, record company VP says sounds real nice, but left side, imaging not quite as good. Well I had left one record leaning up against the wall by the left speaker. So some of these record company honchos have pretty good ears. And yes even that one little record did make a difference.

There are things you can do to mitigate this- acoustic panels, tube trap, whatever. None are quite as good as nothing being there.

But then moving everything way off to the side or behind, that has costs too. Literally. As in, good wire ain't cheap. And let me tell you, the hit you take having something between the speakers is nothing compared to the hit you take running cheap wire. Which you have to do when its long. But not when its short.

So what did I say? Oh yeah: Its a trade off. You do what you can- listen, adjust, listen, compare. 

What else you gonna do? Listen to a bunch of interweb wanna bees?