Location of compoments.

@lovehifi22 I haven't read the whole thread so maybe someone else suggested this but i too read Smith's book and relocated my equipment to the side in a bass null, but i kept the amp between the speakers on a very low amp stand to avoid long speaker cables--so speaker cables are 4' long and balanced interconnects are 15'

Incidentally i had a phone consult with Jim Smith and mentioned this to him and he said he was more addressing the scenario where all the equipment was between the speakers--he had no problem with the way i had done it

Leaving the amp in between is actually a reasonable compromise. It is better to have nothing… no amp at center. Typically that would be mean running dual mono amps behind or adjacent behind the speakers. So, if you can’t afford monoblocks, then a centered stereo amp is preferred, because it is better to do the long interconnect run between preamp and amp than to have long speaker cables. Systems tend to be more favorable sounding with short speaker cables with a centered amp than with long speaker cables.

But overall… this is a pretty minor sonic difference in most folks systems. I have not done it in my current system. If I upgrade again, I will.