Removing components from between the speakers

Most people are stuck with something between their speakers.

Period.

The thing to discuss is not how the ideal room would or should be unless the point is to the futility of the idea. I'd love to have the wherewithal to have a dedicated listening room but I'm with the majority on this: I can't.

So, getting back to the OPs question, if you can isolate, as best you can, the equipment off to one side and not in the soundstage you listen to, then by all means, do it.

As for the rest of us, throw a big, wool, army blanket over your widescreen and rack and make sure your speakers are forward of the stuff between and see if it makes a difference. That's the advice I was given on another thread here and it worked. It was a very minor improvement, but it worked.

I no longer do it because of the hassle.

All the best,
Nonoise

If I had a room like Mikelavigne's, I'd be close to ideal.

Right you are Simao....makes a world of difference

Simao;

"My monitors are pulled forward of the salamander rack. A good 12" forward. So maybe it wouldn't make that much difference...".

I wouldn't necessarily conclude that on my own without testing that assumption, but I think there's a simple enough way to answer the question for your particular setup without much fuss.

Simply pull your monitors forward (temporarily, for the sake of a short audition) out far enough into the room so that the front of the Salamander is a good 3-4' (or even more, if you can arrange it) behind the baffles. Don't bother listening for things like bass response or tone or whatever, just focus on depth and imaging. This should give you a clear indication of how much (if any) in that department you stand to gain by removing the equipment and rack from the middle. IOW, this test will give you a fairly good idea about how inherently capable of displaying depth your gear currently is, in your room. If there is no appreciable change, then it would likely not be worth the trouble to go through the motions to remove the rack. If you find a substantial improvement, then you can investigate further. Hope this helps.

I had the opportunity to place components outside of my room, or in a closet in the room, or to put them alongside the wall. I chose to place them right in the middle. The primary reason is the atrocious loss/degradation that occurs with longer cables. It cannot be escaped, and it is horrific. No placement of components will fix the damage done to a system by use of unnecessarily long cables.

There are compromises which must be made when building systems, and the room is certainly not the end all, be all solution for setting up rigs. It accounts for perhaps 50% of the experience, but neglecting things like cable length is a major mistake, imo.