Not to be overly critical because many people do this, but I never understood it. When I dim the lights and watch a movie, I want to see the movie. Not lights and indicators from the AV rack. So I always put the AV rack off to the side of the room, and currently behind me.
If I were you, I'd get a 60 to 65 inch screen and hang it on the wall using a $25 monoprice mount, leave the center on that stand below the screen, and forget about a front-room AV rack. The next upgrade after that is a drop screen and projector for movie night: 120 inch of goodness has 4 times the area of a 60-inch screen.
I agree about the screen size and rack placement. When watching a movie I like to re-create the theater experience.
I'm finishing my setup with a 73" Mitsubishi and RF-82 II system, The rack is on a side wall so the gear's lights are unobtrusive when viewing a movie.
I'm still shopping for a 12" or 15" sub for those great movie sound tracks.