I have a question for the Audiogon and vinyl community: do you think equalization is helpful for getting good results with vinyl playback?
Um, no it is essential. RIAA equalization is required. Anything beyond that- look let's cut to the heart of the matter, okay?
Either you got some crap gear, or you got some crap ears and want everything to sound the way you want it to sound instead of the way it is. Or maybe you drank the Cool-Aid and think digital is the reference and are trying to make your records sound like that. Or another possibility I guess, troll. But even trolls we take seriously, at least the one time.
I am just trying to cover all the bases here because anyone like me who knows vinyl knows it is perfectly capable of bass and midrange all the other formats but open reel can only dream of. So the last thing you need is EQ. Now if you want to talk about what else might be a good way to go, we can have that discussion. But the very fact you got one of the most clueless of all saying it is "absolutely vital" and pushing you to EQ that fact alone ought to be enough to make you step back and reconsider.