My experiences with Audyssey are similar to Dlcockrum's. I helped a friend calibrate his HT system using an Integra 9.8. When we A/B'd Audyssey vs. the unprocessed signal, we both preferred the unprocessed signal, and not by a little. In his Integra, Audyssey sounded, well, "processed." That is to say, it sounded harmonically thin, two dimensional, and generally "electronic." He wound up not using it. However, he did not have the Audyssey Pro Kit, or the stand alone Audyssey processor, so I cannot comment whether they would result in a similar degradation to the sound. I suspect the results would have been better with either of those.
Having said that, I use Meridian Room Correction (along with Room EQ Wizard software and a Behringer microphone) for both music and movies in my own system, and the results are excellent. It my room, using Meridian Room Correction is significantly better than not. By EQ'ing out the room modes under 200Hz, the bass is more balanced, more pitch specific, faster, and generally more musical. It does this without the addition of the "processed sounding" artifacts I mentioned above.
So I guess, regarding the question of whether to EQ or not, I would say: It all depends on the implementation. You will probably have to try it in your system and hear for yourself. Good luck.
Having said that, I use Meridian Room Correction (along with Room EQ Wizard software and a Behringer microphone) for both music and movies in my own system, and the results are excellent. It my room, using Meridian Room Correction is significantly better than not. By EQ'ing out the room modes under 200Hz, the bass is more balanced, more pitch specific, faster, and generally more musical. It does this without the addition of the "processed sounding" artifacts I mentioned above.
So I guess, regarding the question of whether to EQ or not, I would say: It all depends on the implementation. You will probably have to try it in your system and hear for yourself. Good luck.