Are you saying that one long low rack is not a good way to go? I
definitely am going front and center, but are you saying do two low
racks?
I'm saying it is all trade offs, everywhere, all the time. Everyone has their own particular individual situation in terms of what they have now, what they plan on doing, how they want it to look, what they are willing to deal with in terms of convenience, and more. Like 30 years ago when I was, ahem, 30 years younger having my turntable on the floor, having to get down on the floor to do everything, it was no big deal. I ran my Basis on the floor for a year or more while I tested and figured things out. Now today it would be a total non-starter. I built my rack the height that it is for ergonomics as much as sound. Compromise. Trade off. Everywhere.
Anything in the center, anything at all, it will reflect and this will degrade imaging. It is real easy to test this, as easy as buy one sheet of Owens Corning 703, cut it up and start moving it around. Not exactly the same as moving components but real close and a lot easier. I did all kinds of stuff like this way back when I was all young and spry and having to figure it all out because hardly any info out there back then.
There's a very old photo from when my system was on a center rack. Even back then the imaging was so good I had a guy one time peek under the blanket, absolutely convinced there had to be a speaker behind it!
https://www.theanalogdept.com/c_miller.htm That blanket is a clue, you can ameliorate reflections with absorbers all kinds of different ways.
That is why after trying a bunch of things I made my rack with round columns and a curved front and corners. No right angles. Not facing forwards anyway. Avoid racks with big square flat faces. But don't worry too much about how good the rack is at vibration control, because 90+% of that comes from Pods directly under each component. Or under the whole rack. Or both. These tend to take the rack out of the equation, except for the way it reflects sound. Use all that to creatively select one that suits you and your situation. That's the way I approach it.
Like, one creative solution, two low racks left and right near the front wall. Components go on those. This leaves the most significant reflection zone in the center clear. Put your preamp on Pods on the floor, feeding amps on the floor on Pods. If the preamp is all remote control you hardly need to touch it anyway.
But there are so many odd variables this might not work at all. Sometimes everything will reach with 1m, other times inputs and outputs are opposite ends too far apart. You just never know. That is why I give general info and hopefully enough you can figure it out from there.
