Where to locate Equipment?

Its not. But if ever someone says anything once, and it gets repeated, then before you know it everyone is saying it and convinced it must be true because.... someone said it.

Ideally nothing between the speakers but living environment is not always merciful.

G

It can't hurt to measure your room with a mic to see if there's a nice null off to side which would help make an informed decision.

The only audio equipment I have in my listening room are the speakers themselves.  In a cabinet (with front doors that are closed when the music is playing) in an adjacent room are the turntable, pre-amp, tuner, and digital front end.  The amp is in the basement under the speakers, driven by balanced cables coming through the floor from the preamp above.  Since my turntable has a vacuum pump, I also put that in the basement below the cabinet. 

Obviously lots of cables and tubes going up and down through my wood floors, but the holes aren't visible to guests.  There are cable holes in the floors under the equipment cabinet and behind the speakers.

Guess I made a short story long.  Separate everything as much as practicable, especially if you're using a turntable, and double especially if the turntable has a vacuum pump.

"...The only audio equipment I have in my listening room are the speakers themselves..."

I think that is an ideal set-up but not achievable for most people. Next best is having a low stand of equipment between the loudspeakers, certainly no TVs or huge pieces of furniture with closed doors.