Slaw, as Richard said, you are not alone. Its a bit presumptuous to assume that because there were no responses to your "diatribes" (your word) that you are the only one with passion for the music. You are clearly very passionate about your music and I admire and commend you for that. There are many reasons why some may not be able to post for a few days and those reasons should be obvious to someone like yourself who has previously taken protracted periods of "time off" from posting; it is not a personal slight nor indication of lack of passion.
Since you stated that you dreaded the responses I will oblige you and take you to task over the issue of passion for music. You have an obvious passion for music that you like; but, it seems, only if it sounds good ("audiophile-good"). A while back, and in response to your suggestion that we persue a common reference, I recommended an LP that you deemed "unlistenable" due to its sound. That came as a surprise to me since it was an LP that is highly regarded for its sound quality as well as its music. I would respectfully suggest that the strongest passion for music would allow us to ignore less than perfect sound and simply enjoy the music; yes, even on a table radio. Good music doesn't need the help of fancy equipment to make its point; as nice a the equipment is.
Since you stated that you dreaded the responses I will oblige you and take you to task over the issue of passion for music. You have an obvious passion for music that you like; but, it seems, only if it sounds good ("audiophile-good"). A while back, and in response to your suggestion that we persue a common reference, I recommended an LP that you deemed "unlistenable" due to its sound. That came as a surprise to me since it was an LP that is highly regarded for its sound quality as well as its music. I would respectfully suggest that the strongest passion for music would allow us to ignore less than perfect sound and simply enjoy the music; yes, even on a table radio. Good music doesn't need the help of fancy equipment to make its point; as nice a the equipment is.