Hi Rick,
I remember you were having some issues dialling in the 600 and I'm glad it is sounding fine for you now. Yes I'd say acoustical treatments done right, especially bass traps are more important that equalization.
The neat thing is how much more cost effective it is to employ bass traps and how big a difference they make in the subs performance and bass reproduction. Talk about a great way to tighten the bass. Sirquack really laid it out nicely in his thread and Audioholics also has several good articles on how to build them. Here is a couple of shots of my 4" x 2' x 8' basstraps which I guestimate cost about $50 each to construct one Sat aft in my garage. Much cheaper than my SMS though the SMS raised the acoustics bar another notch.
The treatments on the back wall beside the bass trap are rear diffusers to tame rear wall sound reflection from my frontleft main speaker.
You're right about aesthetics and my wife was great about the four black monoliths tucked in the corners of our dedicated HT room. She did put her foot down though when I suggested ripping out the oak wainscotting for black fibreglass acoustical panels.
Darthkringle, how difficult is your room?
