Equipment Rack Between Speakers...Good or Bad

there are really 2 questions.

1---looking at your picture, would it be better to move the rack to the side?
2---in a perfect situation, is it better to have the rack between the speakers or on the side.

answer 1---in your case it’s better to keep the rack there as it provides some break-up of reflections from the flat back wall. maybe if your room is big enough to get your speakers farther from the wall behind and you could add some diffusion on that wall, now maybe getting the rack out of the way would be a net gain.

answer 2---yes; when chasing perfection a rack between your speakers at some point becomes a liability. and while on the side is not perfect, the net gain is for the side location.

look at pictures of my system here for where it’s better on the side; my room is purpose built and finely tuned. much of which could not be done with gear between the speakers.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/615

Cal and Elliot,

thank you for the kind comments.

Elliot, i'm in the Seattle area and you would be most welcome to come listen any time.

mikelavigne, how did you find not one Studer but three.....? Oh so lucky.

Glenn, i was very early to the tape revival. i bought the first (1/4") of the A-820's from a Studio in Austin, Texas in 2007 before anyone else was out looking. the second one (1/2") i bought from a studio in L.A. in 2011 still early before things got moving. the last one (both 1/4" and 1/2" heads) i bought last year from a local friend and paid dearly for it. 

love my Studers.

Btw, for your system pictures looks as your seat position been at near field but maybe it's not. I love to listen at near field position that I don'tdo it as often I like it in my system and only when I'm testing or fine tunning something critical.
At what distance from the inside towers are you seated?

Dear Raul, good to see you my friend.

my speaker towers are 84" tall and massive. and unless there is someone standing next to them in the picture to give them scale, they make my room look small and the distances shorter than they are. my room is 29' x 21' x 11'.

my tweeters are 115" apart.

my ears are 105" from each tweeter. so i sit in the nearfield. but as there is 9' 6" from my tweeters to the wall behind them, the way the room works it's not so near field in actual experience. that is lot's of space behind and around the speakers.

and i can tell you for years i could not sit that close. i did a huge amount of room tuning to bring it under control. and as i got closer and closer to getting it right i moved my seating position closer and closer. it is now super immersive and holographic. the bass is to die for. 

near field is the way to go if you can get a room to be optimal. otherwise the glare from distortion will drive you back.