Control valves used to cut off the water supply in a sprinkler system are located:

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The main idea is that the control valve is placed where you can completely isolate the sprinkler system from its water source. When the valve sits between the water supply source and the sprinkler system, you can stop all water flow to every sprinkler head for maintenance or in an emergency, without needing to shut off water downstream or in individual parts of the system. Placing a shutoff elsewhere would either fail to isolate the entire system or would be impractical to access quickly. For example, a valve between floors wouldn’t affect the whole system, a dedicated maintenance room isn’t the standard location for rapid shutoff, and a valve between internal piping segments would isolate only portions of the system rather than the whole. So the correct arrangement is at the point where the water supply enters the system, before it branches into the sprinkler piping.