Equipment Rack Between Speakers...Good or Bad

My friend has an old 27" tube TV 2’ behind between his two way stand mounted monitors. His room is a mess. However, the sound is exquisite. Superb imaging and sound from his custom built tube system (he is a cable manufacturer).

I am happy to know that the floor support is more important.  My floors are 3000 psi, 12" thick, 1/2" rebar reinforced poured concrete.

As to my system location, I have found that analog; in particular, is negatively impacted (as is anything) that I place between my speakers. I had to put my dual metal stands on one side wall, several feet in front of the left speaker. The stands are welded with a 50/50 shot/sand mix and when struck, sound dead (without the fill, they have a ring to them). The VPI VI is mounted on a 1 3/8" HDF platform resting on a Townsend Sink. Behind the stands are a pair of Acoustic Fields large 3" deep absorption panels, so nothing bounces off the cherry plywood walls. There are SR HFTs at the mid-point between the seat and speakers. I can’t do any better with this room but definitely, the side location works compared to the behind the speakers location.

Never a good thing it will kill your center image. I’ve been through hell and back trying to solve this same issue without spending thousands on longer cables to position the rack to the side. I’ve found by using a low profile rack can help, but not 100 percent solve the issue.

+1  Prof

I find having the speakers out further in the room typically makes more of a difference than a rack centered between the speakers.  For me I typically have the equipment rack near the wall and the speakers 3-4 ' out from the wall, but I have had to have the speaker close to the wall and have messed with a vertical rack between and then offsetting the rack on a side wall.  I didn't hear much of a difference.

I do feel removing a TV is a different story.   Placing a TV between speakers is less than ideal.  I think it is best to mount the TV on the wall and again, pull the speakers out giving them air to breath without immediate  interruption.

I’ve become obsessed with trying to make my smaller/square ~13 x 13-ish room sound bigger and better.  Installed bass traps, and diffusion/absorbers on side walls and rear walls. All have help tame bass, balance things out, improve decay, and liven up the room some.  My next step was to experiment with moving my rack from the center of the speakers over to the sidewall.  Even with a cheap $20 Amazon 7m balanced cable run (displacing my Anticable preamp to amp connection) the soundstage improvement was immediately noticeable.  Beck is now standing 6’ in front of me - I was shocked how much of an improvement there was.  Why didn’t I do this sooner?  For those of you already curious, esp if you have a smaller rooms, I highly recommend giving it a try if you can.