I'm of the belief that speakers and speaker placement/room interaction are the two most important elements for quality sound in any system, regardless of price. The latest TAS brought this to mind as it seemed like most of the issue was dedicated to room interaction and treatments. Of course, this also meant it read like an AES Journal (or at least what I'd imagine one to be like). Unfortunately, most of the corrective devices mentioned also seemed to be startlingly expensive. Is $3000 really necessary for a decent digital eq? Sheesh

Personally, I use curtains to absorb first order reflections and as my listening room (aka Living Room) is carpeted, I've never worried about reflections off the floor. The speaker drivers are not equidistant from the side and back walls and are slightly tilted in to focus the center image. I have tall, bushy plants in the corners behind the speakers but don't use bass traps or suchlike although I probably should.

So who uses treatments and/or equalisation and what has been your experience? Good? Bad? Work in progress? What measures have you taken to maximize your speaker placement? Is WAF a big factor?