I have found out why new cables and tweaks actually work!

Since signal is carried OUTSIDE the cable… voila!

Funny, dust does have na impact on sound. That's why I swipe an Audioquest brush to remove it before every cartridge drop across and then up toward the center of the record - no fluid to gunk it up. Also occasionally brush the stylus with a tiny bit of fluid on a dense stylus brush. These things do make a difference.

I'll dust around the components and under the turntable and on it once in a while, all very carefully. That doesn't affect the sound, but it looks cleaner. 

at least WE can laugh at ourseleves for the holidays

My car runs better after an oil change!!!

I have never experienced this. 

With regards to tubes, warm with out a definition is meaningless. By warm, many mean dark, akin to a lot of Burr Brown opams from a decade ago. I haven't kept up, if they still label any Burr Brown I don't know what they sound like these days. That, however, seems to largely depend upon the tube. As for second order distortion, that's true, and Nelson Pass has made at least one solid state amp that has said distortion. This adds depth to the sound. How it seems to add depth so as to seem accurate to the sound stage, singer forward, drums to the rear usually, I don't pretend to know. The bottom line though, IME, is that like any primarily innocent hobby, it doesn't matter what proclivities you have for what you say passes as music, or how you manage to turn it from some electrical signal, or from bumps on a disc to sound, if you enjoy it, forget the haters and keep enjoying your music!