I'm with Sushi on this one. However, I'll admit to being biased by years of live audio engineering. I wouldn't choose EQ over speaker positioning, but some rooms make for a thin line between optimal speaker position and an irate spouse. :-) And occasionally you run into a recording that needs help, and it's impractical to move your speakers for different sources. Live recordings are typically the sources needing different treatment for me, For example, in my room Metheny's "80/81" begs for some EQ. If you know what you're doing, equalization is not evil. It's all in how and why it's applied. The same is true for delay.
I own three Behringer DSP8024 equalizers, and I'm very happy with them; the price to performance ratio is admirable. However, note that they really want you to use balanced I/O if you're going to use analog, so you'll need a converter. I prefer completely passive units when using the analog I/O if I need to interface to unbalanced consumer gear. Right now I'm using a Rane BB44X Balance Buddy in the family room for this reason (and the fact that it was lying in the studio unused :-)).
There is an AES/EBU option for the DSP8024, which might permit you to stay in the digital domain until the outputs of the DSP8024 and possibly further... some gear will permit interconnecting AES/EBU and S/PDIF. However, it doesn't work in all cases, and to my knowledge the DSP8024 is using 48kHz internally so you're going to wind up with sampling rate conversion for 44.1kHz sources/sinks. In all likelihood, unless you've got pro gear mixed in, you're just as well off with the balanced analog I/O (and the resulting A/D and D/A conversions).
It's really hard to beat the DSP8024 for the price ($180 or so). The other digital option in this price range is the Alesis DEQ230 (DEQ230D for AES/EBU), which is on my list to replace the DSP8024 in the studio (mostly because it's easier to read from across the room).
I'd personally much prefer a high quality parametric EQ in the family room, but I had the DSP8024 lying around and some room issues I needed to solve without winding up in divorce court. :-) It's only on my mains, not the center channel or rears. The RTA and auto-eq is handy, but essentially a one-shot kind of thing to get you in the ballpark once you've done the best you can with speaker positioning. You can't correct terrible speaker positioning with equalization, but the RTA and auto-eq can be a big help, especially to those short on patience, floor space, etc. At a minimum it'll help you track progress of your speaker positioning. A pro would use a much better RTA and software, but the DSP8024 RTA isn't bad, especially considering the price.
One handy thing about digital EQs is being able to make up for lack of bass management. My first handful of programs in the DSP8024 in the family room only differ in the 20Hz to 100Hz range. I only wish it had a remote control so I didn't have to get up to change the program (no MIDI in the family room :-)).
