Speaker positioning: why do audiophiles neglect this so much?

Sorry but if you spoke about me...

I did not promote any piece of costly gear at all EVER....

I did not promote any costly "tweaks" at all EVER ... On the contrary i dont buy anything save low cost devices in some case...I promote a method of control about mechanical,electricial and especially ACOUSTICAL control and not only treatment OVER UPGRADE obsession ... All my propsed tweaks are homemade or peanuts costs...

For the rest i speak with arguments like Millercarbon did in his own way  but perhaps with less rudeness sometimes in my case... I wrote less well because English is not my native tongue... 😁😊

I speak about what i know and which is the most underestimated factor in audiophile life : acoustic and psycho-acoustic basic for speakers/room...

Then spare me your one line allusion  with no ARGUMENT....

So we have an official replacement for millercarbon. Another blowhard.

My experience is probably illustrative.  I never paid much attention to placement with my Gallo 3.1's, which seemed to have a really wide dispersion and were not sensitive to much moving around.  When I changed them for Yamaha NS-5000's I found myself having to read the books on placement and investing in a laser measuring tool.  It paid off, but I did have to push them into the living room, which messed up the furniture layout and now dominate the room.  Luckily, there's no WAF (or unluckily).  I also found I needed much longer speaker cables, and finding high end used ones were difficult, since a pair of 15' cables (my rack is not centered) really  costs the moon. The other thing is that the Yamaha's are marginally more difficult to move, but nothing like the behemoths tested in the magazines.  However, while they have the advantage of 12" woofers, therein lies the reason a lot of speakers have smaller and multiple woofers and smaller footprints.  So with most of us having speakers in living rooms, that's a pretty good argument for sealed box acoustic suspension, tall and small footprint speakers.  If you got 'em, somke 'em, which means if a dealer sells this type of speaker, I would think they would sell that benefit.  If not, then its up to individuals and the publications to educate on this aspect, the latter which I don't see doing anymore.

Not sure why @mahgister is trolling... I said I used the cardas method and then experimented from that. I use Acoustic treatment to improve sound. My speakers are placed on isoacoustic feet to further improve bass and imaging...

I'm happy that a 500dollar system with Intelligent absorbtion and treatment is amazing for you.... I do draw the line somewhere... I haven't put acoustic panels on the ceiling as I like seeing my superb victoria cornicing.

Each to their own I guess.... I fight the wars I want to fight 

Please keep your insults...

Trolls dont give logical argument with articles about the subject matter of the thread in which they post like i did...

Trolling is insulting to provoke WITHOUT arguments...

Discussing is not trolling, only insulting like you just did is....

Buy a mirror...

Not sure why @mahgister is trolling...

On the subject of placing equipment between speakers, Jim Smith focused more on the visual distraction of this vs. degradation of the sound--he also focuses on this being possibly a location where bass frequencies might be strong and why you need to avoid placing your equipment there--but he did say that if you must place your equipment between the speakers then at least try to place the equipment behind the plane of the speakers.  There are plenty of great listening rooms at th various shows and almost every one has the equipment between the speakers (so you focus on it?)  I've tried several different methods of speaker placement:  Cardas, equilateral triangle (the most recommended here and elsewhere) and Smith's approximately 83% rule where the distance between speakers is 83% of the distance from speaker to listening position.  The latter was the best i found in my room along with some of his other tips about where to locate listening position.  However, i never felt his tips were absolute and he confirmed this when i scheduled a phone call with him to hear his recommendations on addressing an irregularity in my listening room shape.  Speaker position important?  Yes.  Generic?  No