Air compressor set ups

Good questions you've asked. A couple things I did that have & have not worked out so well.
I left mine on the pallet. Good move, when I needed access to the belt I was able to spin it around.
I have mine in a 5' x 10' tool room. Bad move (in Georgia). Thinking it would be great to shut the door because even my 60 gal. is noisy, it promptly heats up the room. Hot air = water in the tank, big time. To combat this I installed a fan in the ceiling to bring outside air in and cool the compressor and I never close the door. Not a problem in the winter, but a problem in the summer even with the fan on.
I have a quick coupler on the compressor and hook into the shops hard line with a short piece of hose with a quick coupler. Good move, see above.

You didn't ask anything about plumbing hard lines, so I guess you have that done or figured out already.
C