I'm a very experienced Audiophile and I learned several new tricks fro Jim Smith's book. Getting the rack out of the middle, is a great idea and it really can improve your sound. For excellent inexpensive interconnects try Signal Cable Silver Resolution.
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!