Large speakers plus EQ, what have you done?

Not too long ago in my living room I had a pair of Polk R700's for streaming & stereo TV. I have a decent null at 50hz & a huge boost/peek at 42.

Initially I was using an Arcam SA30 with its Dirac & SVS subs & their PEQ App. The Arcam crapped out on me & then I tried a MiniDsp DDRC-22D. The minidsp is basically a 2 channel dirac box. Multiple digital inputs & digital outputs only..so you can use your favorite dac. I upgraded the power supply & ditched the subs. I had a hard time incorporating the subs & mains with the 2ch dirac minidsp. 

The Minidsp/Dirac worked well for bass. Eventually though I didn't like what it was doing to the mid & high frequency. I wasn't well versed in Dirac & apparently I shouldn't have been trying to correct anything over 2 to 300hz. But I had a peak around 1khz I was trying to tame as well. This was my living room...no acoustic treatment. The DSP device worked well with the bass though. Lots of time measuring & remeasuring. 

After I grew tired with the Minidsp I hooked a RME ADI-2 Dac to the TV/Streamer. I used a Super Farad 3 power supply I had with the dac & hooked the Dac straight to amp (class D Hypex Nilai). I love that little Dac. Great volume control & cool loudness function that adjust with volume. Best thing though is that it has 5 PEQ tabs..and 2 extra but  limited PEQ tabs you can set up for a Bass & Treble tone control. You can also set the PEQ for each channel individually. 

With a Umik & REW software I could measure the room & see my issues. The Dac had just enough PEQ tabs to dial in my bass & any issue in the higher frequency. Plus it sounded more natural than using Dirac to my ears...at least in the upper frequencies. I'm back to bookshelves now in that room but was very happy with how a little PEQ helped my overall bass response. Obvious issues is that it only worked for digital sources. It's also a dac that not everyone will appreciate as much as I did. 

My system is vintage. The bass has been ok, very good with some songs and lacking with others. Have been looking for a vintage EQ, while also thinking about getting the Loki Max. 

After reading stuff all over the web, everyone said recap the crossovers. Did that, and the bass was a magnitude better, deeper, fuller, faster. So was the mid and high end. It really woke up the speakers. 

After living with that for a bit, and still wanting more...

Did a full recap/refresh on my pre-amp. Another order of magnitude better, everywhere! Turned my treble from +4 to 0, and bass from +6 to +3. Everything was so much cleaner, clearer, most of all the lowered noise floor. 

That lasted about 2 weeks...

Did a full recap/referb on my amp, same as above, just less so. But mostly lowered the noise floor, feel like I got another 50w out of the amp. 

Just this week, wanting more low bass, want to feel it in my chair! Decided to move the speakers around the room. Spent about 3 hours measuring, taping, moving listening... 

Found the sweet spot, might have been almost sitting in the null. Now I have powerful bass that I can feel, soundstage is much better, channel separation is better, tone controls are almost no longer in use. Bass is 0 - +3 depending on source and volume. 

Will see how long this last, but still thinking about adding a sub, and/or a EQ. If something pops up used that looks like fun it will be added. But in the end of all this, my entire systems sounds 100% better, total cost was not much, but a ton of sweat equity. 

I have magnepan 3.7 speakers in a smallish room. Have tried dirac several times but always get dissatisfied with the sound.  I can make the bass sound very controlled but it also takes the “life” out of the music.  So far I prefer no EQ.

You can address peaks but not EQ your way out of modal nulls.

("Positional EQ" maybe, i.e., move seat and buttocks out of null)

Back in the late 80's/early 90's i started learning the effect the room had on sound and, going to the library (how quaint?) did research on sound and room effects.  What got me going on that track was an article in [i believe] Stereo Review in which the author talked about EQ and sound curves in various concert hall "best seat" locations and how measured response at those positions was never "flat"--As i recall from the article it seems the best seats had a slightly boosted bass and gradually began rolling off after 10KHz to around 6dB down at 18KHz. (Approximation from admittedly defective memory)--Anyway,  at that time I owned Cizek Model 1 speakers that supposedly reproduced usable bass down to 25Hz, although i never really tested that spec with organ music or the like. What i did know was that in the room i had my system i was not happy with the sound which was extremely constrained by WAF  so i began exploring whether i could EQ my way out of it--i purchased an ADC Sound Shaper SS-525X which billed itself as an "Automatic Computerized Equalizer/Analyzer"--it had a pink noise generator with an interesting feature:  you could press a button labeled "set flat" and it would generate pink noise and automatically adjust the sound at your listening position (where you positioned the included calibrated mic) to perfectly flat frequency response. From there you could adjust the EQ sliders to design the frequency curve you desired--which BTW did not match slider position but rather a complicated summing of adjacent sliders--took some practice.  I first listened without adjusting the flat response and found that sound very unpleasant--tipped up at the high frequencies and the bass was "lifeless"; however, when i adjusted to one of the published best seat curves the sound improved considerably and i was happy-- so the use of EQ really helped a situation where i couldn't treat the room or move the speakers from the corners.  Now i have a dedicated music room, albeit small so i listen nearfield, and i don't find that i need the equalizer--my components and speakers are considerably better and the sound is so good that i don't want to mess with it--i've handled room modes by room treatment and speaker positioning--but i may one day put the ADC back in the loop and experiment just to see what happens--it can be bypassed for easy A/B comparison but i've been reluctant to put it in the signal chain even in bypassed mode simply b/c i believe in minimizing equipment in the path.