best position of components in relation to spkers?

I have noticed a worthwhile improvement when the rack is between the speakers, but five or six feet closer to the wall. Obviously not always an option. I also leave the rack door open 45 degrees to reduce reflections. My mono blocks are also almost adjacent to the speakers, but set back three feet and angled inward somewhat to avoid perpendicular. You might try turning your rack 45 degrees to see if that does anything for you.

It would interesting (but expensive) to try moving everything to the back wall.

What do you think of the book.so far? I already know everything worth knowing about high-end system setup, but I'm tempted to check out this book anyway;)

Definitely away from any magnetic fields created by drivers or other EM fields possibly created by other common household devices. These considertationscan often be more significant than location relative to speakers alone, so do not focus in that exclusively. However, also in a location where sonic vibrations from speakers are minimal if possible. Where that is case by case can vary. Often it will be away from the rear wall used to re-inforce bass levels and also not directly in front of directional speaker designs.

I have similar omnidirectional speakers both in the same room as my gear and in a separate adjacent room connected via in-wall wires. I have a Niles speaker switch to select which speakers play. In my case, I cannot attribute any sonic difference based on location relative to source gear. Both rooms are in the basement and sit on the thinly carpeted concrete foundation, which provides a very vibration free environment for both overall. Isolation from EM fields and sonic vibrations together overall is the key. Speaker location relative to gear alone does not tell the whole story.

Thank you to all for the quick and insightful responses! I've got a full size couch facing the speakers and a love seat on the lefthand wall. And the righthand wall has storage shelves and a toy chest. It's a bit congested. : ) So I am very tempted to try sidewall positioning, but that probably means just getting rid of something else all together. Another thought I had was simply removing the rack - BTW my components sit on top of it, not inside of it. Anyway, would it make sense to simply place my gear on the floor to reduce reflections and electronic interference w/ the drivers? May still not be ideal, but perhaps an improvement? And suggestions for a surface for gear? My floor is carpeted. Thanks again for shared wisdom!

This surprises me because there's less sound behind the speakers - Assuming no Bipoles or Dipoles, and assuming the speakers are in front of the rack and away from it by a couple of feet.
Putting the rack where the music is directed just seems backwards to me.
I'm gonna try it tonight.

I gave up running AQ Sky XLRs from the Pre to the Power amp just to be able to move the rack and sources our from between the speakers. It took a day to disconnect, move, position, and reconnect the system. Routing the cables and moving the cable lifters was another hour or so. At the end of the switch, all I can say is why the hell didn't I do this YEARS ago? I will go on step further than Jim Smith and say that not only does getting the rack out of the middle of the speakers outweigh the "longer" wire issue, it actually outweighs a substantial downgrade in IC quality. I went from AQ Sky XLRs in the the entire chain to SKY from the sources to the pre and an ancient AQ+ 16 foot run of XLR cable that is not even labeled. It looks a whole lot like mic cable in fact!
More of everything that I like and less of everything I don't was the result in my system.