Eric,
I agree with this advice. I've come to several tentative conclusions about all this after trying a number of different papers, profiles and approaches:
(1) For Epson papers their own profiles with the 4800 and 3800 printers are really very, very good. I have not been able to improve upon them with custom profiles, which speaks for the consistency of Epson's manufacturing processes.
(2) For other papers, one has the choice of using other profiles supplied by the paper manufacturers or distributors where such exist (for example free profiles for Innova papers are available on their website and the one I tested is pretty good), or going to a custom provider such as Andrew Rodney, Cathy's, Giorgio Trucco, to name a few in the USA, and then in Europe - Christophe Metairie in Bayonne, France.
(3) After experimenting with a number of papers to see what you like best, it's good to settle on two or three and really learn to use them well via softproofing.
Mark