Excellent observations and comments John! I started in this hobby when
I was in elementary school with a Hallicrafters S-38E. At that time
tabletops were abundant beyond belief because they all used valves!
It's sad to see the demise of good tabletop receivers, however, there's
always a good supply in the used market for reasonable prices if you
shop a bit. That's were I've shopped for the last 15 years. I have
tried almost all of the solid state receivers and still use two of my
favorites, an old Icom R70 and a Kenwood R-5000. I really liked the
R75, but there just wasn't enough knobs to twiddle!!

Frank
K3YAZ
Tucson, AZ