Sean, I'm not trying to intentionally ruffle feathers here, but that being said... You claim to be pursuing accuracy and dislike either etched or sugar coated sounds then proclaim your love of a certain type of tube amp (although I don't believe you're currently using this). In my humble opinion, while tube amps can sound wonderful, and I am, in fact, in the midst of setting up a second tube only system, they are, to my ears, very inaccurate. But you say that if you had to choose between etched and sugar coated you would choose the latter (as would I) so perhaps that is where your love of tubes comes into play.
That being said, as a musician, I have a great deal of experience both playing and listening to live music. Live music is almost always etched and bright while, at the same time as Kkursula pointed out, there can be some fat bass in there as well. Yet, for some reason, I do not seek out these attributes in my system. I am currently running Vienna Acoustics. I think these speakers really sound quite beautiful. Consider photography for a moment. Many photographers will place a filter over the lens of the camera--this results in many beautiful pictures. Are these an accurate reproduction of the original? Clearly not, but they are very pleasing. Presumably, the photographer thought this was MORE pleasing than the original. Whether on purpose, or by accident, my speakers place a beautiful filter over the music. I thoroughly enjoy it, but I do not for a second pretend that it is accurate.
This next comment is not in the slightest way directed at you because I really don't know anything about you...it's more directed at the slice of the audiophile community that I know personally. The average audiophile (in my experience) does not attend many live events. Their love of music, mysteriously, does not seem to extend beyond the confines of their listeing room. As such, when I see so many people touting accuracy as their end-all goal, I have to ask myself, "who are they to know what accuracy is?"
I find this to be a fascinating hobby and there is room for all whether one's involvement stems from the pursuit of accuracy (and this IS the pursuit of some people), the pursuit of a pleasing sound, the pursuit of great looking equipment, or perhaps, simply the pursuit of pissing off one's wife. I just wish we were all more honest. I think we could all make more informed decisions if we knew the motivating forces behind a particular endorsement.
I apologize if I have offended, this is simply an opinion like the thousands of others on here.