acoustic placement/small bright room

I have been dealing with this for about 6 months at least. I have a 13 x 12' room and have been stuck with brightness, actually glare that is a pain to listen to. I have room tune that helps with the imaging but the only thing that I have found to tame the brightness somewhat is absorbtion. I put quilts on the wall, all walls to be exact and it looks like overkill. Everything that I have read on the internet seems to say that it is a bad thing. But it is absolutely necessary to make it listenable in this small room.

Question is has anyone every dealt with this anamoly? Better yet has anyone solved it?

Oh, this is not hardware related. That's usually the response I get.

Thanks,
Rob