So in general, I am under the impression that whoever is angry at this POS old inflated ego stew of warts oinkerton must probably have a good reason to be so.

True.

But against your contention is, and to take your example of the 78s,
what if that same advocate were to state that "ONLY" 78s were fit to
represent music, and all non-believers in 78s were apostates or worse.
And then further, state that only his interpretation of the sound of
78s had any validity.

He might gather more than a few detractors. Some of them might even get
strident. Most fanatics get quite unhappy when their particular
religion is challenged. And when that challenge has actual evidence,
said fanatics may become positively rabid. Now we have a vicious
circle. There is more of that than of righteous anger in Mr. McCoy. And
don't doubt for one hummingbird heartbeat that Mr. McCoy and Mr.
Pinkerton don't need and depend on each other and fulfill each other.
Otherwise one of them would get a glimmer of a clue, sit on his fingers
and simply shut up about it. That would garner more credibility and in
short order than any number of words.

Were that same person to do as you say, and state "I prefer 78s to all
other media because..... " and then state "But I am writing for myself
and would not presume to dictate to anyone else." I don't think that
anyone here (well, maybe excepting Bret) would have raised a peep.

At this moment, I have connected to mains-power (that is, plugged in if
not turned on) something like 65 vacuum tubes in eight pieces of
equipment, representing three separate power amps and supporting
equipment. And about 300 transistors spread out about the same way. I
like 'em both. Tubes add an element of just-plain-fun to the hobby as
well. Transistors are much more utilitarian... but also more
challenging as it (usually) takes more of them to get anywhere. But I
would never presume to state that my choices are or should be the only
choices, are or should be your choices. I will unabashedly say that you
should give my choices a listen and draw your own conclusions.... not
*quite* the same thing. And I will make suggestions to others based on
my choices and experience. But I will not dictate to them.

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA