I agree with keeping the equipment from being positioned between the speakers. I have used the side wall in the past and in my new apartment I have the sources and preamp in another room and drilled a hole in the wall to run the interconnects to the amp in the listening room.
best position of components in relation to spkers?
According to Jim Smith's book, "Get Better Sound," one of mantras he repeats over and over is the negative sonic effects of having your electronics positioned in between your speakers. At present my Fisher 500c and CDP are on a rack positioned between and somewhat behind (perhaps a foot or two) my actual speakers (Vandersteen 2ce's). I tweaked my system ad nauseum and the position of the speakers in relation to the room, etc. has resulted in what I consider quite satisfying sound. However, according to Jim, even with much cheaper speaker cable at longer runs, if I were to place my component rack on a side wall my overall system sound would improve significantly. Anyone tried this? Thanks for any insights!