Center placed equipment stands

Pretty hard to have fancy pants cables that long. My rack is low and wide compared to my speakers .They are a few feet from the wall . Imaging is not an issue .  Systems have to be livable . I cannot feature having a set up that is a wall with treatments arranged in a pattern on the wall to stare at . I would much rather look at the gear .on the other hand it does make a good excuse to put your arm around someone to use the remote though .  

After evaluating things, I decided on getting a low 2 shelf 18” high cabinet that is wide compared to putting a normal rack on the side. Since I wanted both right and left reflection point absorbers to be identical, I would have had to put the rack in a null position which would have required very long speaker cables or put the amp between the speakers and buy very long balanced cables. The cables I buy aren’t cheap. I have had this rack between the speakers in multiple dedicated rooms now without any SQ degradation

Glitz Queens !

Yep, the ones that stare endlessly at their shiny new chassis and blue led’s while "pretending to listen to music". Usually ones that buy their equipment on looks and high cost more than how it sounds.

The cables I buy aren’t cheap

But "glitz queens spend even more on their shiny racks to stare at.
Put it all to the side spend a bit more on cable and get far better depth and imagining than you ever had.

Cheers George

All my 5.1 gear is in recess shelving in the front wall so no speaker obstructions 
My two channel tube gear in in a equipment closet off to the side so I dont get to see the nice glowing KT88's : (  Now if only I could do something about the rear wall right behind my listening  couch

In my small (1500 sq ft) house, there is a large bedroom closet directly behind the living room wall where my system is parked. Two easily repairable holes and I could move everything (not the speakers) behind the wall. Oops! I forgot; all the equipment boxes are in that closet. Nevermind...