You are slowly winning m over to the new and improved DET. I think version 5 or version 6 may actually make me a believer depending on what adjustments are made to it.
I really like the increase in altitude for the poles, this corrects the magnetic declination we see in everyday life and the aether will not be needed to bend light. I think it should be a very gradual slope, maybe the diameter of the base should extend the entire disc like 6400 km or so. There is a problem though, with the increased altitude of the poles from the equatorial region of the disc, the DE will have to spin at about 1000 mph.