My experience is exactly consistent with Megasam's and Cornfedboy's. Another principle is to move your rack away from the wall. Bass tends to stack up along walls and will energize the rack and components placed there. The performance of my turntable was greatly improved by moving the rack to the side (5m of balanced IC from pre to power) and about 1' from the sidewall and 5' from the back wall. This was recommended by the guys at ASC when they were helping me with room treatments. I also added Sonex foam behind the rack.
Equipment Stand placement?
With so much focus on reducing vibration and other environmental detriments to good sound, I wonder where the best placement for the equipment rack in a listening room would be. It seems that with rear-ported speakers that are out from the back wall, that putting the equipment along the back wall between the speakers would be subjecting it to increased vibration. Putting it along a side wall puts it more in line with the first reflection point, and therefore more sound waves.
What are people's preferences for sound rack placment and why? -Kirk