Bryoncunningham,
Your points are very well taken. You stated, "And I understand 'coloration' to mean 'audible inaccuracy.'" This is interesting. You seem to mean "the more color, the less accurate". If I understand you correctly, I would agree with your statement. Now we have to look at describing what we mean by "color". That's a tough one.
Mrtennis, you stated, "you can measure some parameters associated with cables. but there are probably some which cannot be measured, which is why objective measurement does not fully correlate with listening." I agree completely. The human ear and human brain are infinitely more subtle than any measurements. That's one reason I take John Atkinson's measurements with a grain of salt. Unless you listen to what he is describing there is little meaning in the numbers, per se.
You also stated, "as for tweaks, who knows what to measure. i think one has to be an empiricist and use tweaks and listen." Once again, I agree completely. Only experimenting and listening can tell the tale.