where to place equipment rack?

There is no real rule here, it is usually dictated by circumstances. As you already know there is a conflict between avoiding placing the rack between the speakers and having short cables. Mine is placed between the speakers because my dedicated lines are there and I have 2.5 M speaker wire. You can do 2 things: don't worry about it or order some short speaker wires from a company that allows try outs and see if you get an improvement. Every placement issue is a compromise and very hard to predict without trying out.

Placing your rack between your speakers is not necessarily the big no-no that many assert. IF you can pull your speakers out at least 4 feet from the front wall (usually a good thing anyway) and IF you use a rack that keeps your equipment well below the height of your midrange drivers (as low as possible) and IF you can put the rack right up against the front wall (as far behind the speakers as possible), impact to imaging will be minimal.

For many years, I had my equipment rack on a side wall with long interconnects from the preamp in the rack to the amp on the floor between the speakers. I recently changed interconnects and could not afford a long run, so I moved the equipment rack between the speakers and excellent imaging was retained. My speakers are 6 feet from the front wall and 4 feet out in front of the rack and my midrange drivers are 38" high vs the 28" height of the rack.

But if you must keep your rack a long way from your speakers, you will probably be better off to place your amp between the speakers and go with long interconnect runs vs long speaker cables.

If you do use a longer run from pre/pro to amp, you might want to consider using balanced (XLR) lines.

db

Hopefully your rack does not have a TT on it, for if it does the location is the worse place to be. The amount of acoustic energy that it receives will destroy its ability to play properly. Go with long speaker cables as it is more cost effective and will not degrade the sound quality.

Place your rack where there are bass nulls and where it won't degrade soundstage/imaging. Trying to balance out these concerns with what is practical (domestically, visually, remote friendly, accessible, etc.) and keeping cable/interconnect lengths reasonable can result in compromises. The pictures you see in magazine ads is usually the worst place to put the rack.

Opinions abound and are free....here's mine. When I have done spl measurements all around the room, the fronts corners were the loudest, esp with bass, in between the speakers was next and along the long wall was least. That's where I put my rack. I use long ICs and place the amps just inside and behind the speakers. I have Class D amps, not tubes. The ICs are single-ended, 20 feet long, and I hear no ill effect. I might notice an improvement if I switched to balanced but the expense is too great right now. In my opinion, placement of the electronics is more important than what kind or brand of cables you use. Good luck.

at 1/4 increment of the room length (19'/4=4.75'), bass node is at max. 1/3 increment of the room length bass node is at min. corners should be avoided due to bass energy storage.

best to avoid a location with high bass energy, vibration is bad for equipment even solid state gears. easier to avoid vibration than trying to eliminate it with an expensive rack, but good rack even in bass null will still make a difference.