Equalizer in a Hi Fi system

Just go with your ears! As you age you will become less perfect in your hearing, and thus less competent at listening. And not everyone was born with a perfume nose where their ears are to start with (perfect pitch anyone? How many can tell the tt rpm is running at 33 and 2/3? The idea is to please yourself! Go ahead, EQ that John Denver, I won't judge....  No, really optimize YOUR listening experience.

If you have or think you need an equalizer then you do not have a high end audio system. 
I think the same with all dsp’s I’ve heard so far as well. Adding fake distortion. 

if I have a musical instrument in a room once it’s tuned it always sounds great. 

you can acoustically treat the room. That is ok.  

@sudnh , respectfully you’re wrong. You can make less than perfect recordings on hi fi gear sound better EVERY TIME without sacrificing transparency with the right high end analog hardware EQ, of which we’ve elaborated on many here. Simply put, you are wrong. I’ve run blinded ab tests on multiple people in my house with the above setup and they chose the EQ IN EVERY SINGLE TIME. And my gear is quite hi fi, trust me. 

@sudnh I second that respectfully that u are also totally wrong. Check out my system and tell me if it’s anything less than a hi end audio system. 

Funny that some think having an EQ isn't "audiophile" or that it adds something unnecessary to the audio chain...

On the contrary, I'm inclined to DEFINE an "audiophile" as someone who, among other things, recognizes the utility of an EQ.