More research gets me further along -- answering my own question!

I found this quote from mongoct:
If you want durability, quality in valve construction, you're not concerned about the "latest thing" style-wise, and you want a great price point...AND you're looking for pressure-balanced...
Look at the Symmons Temptrol line.

Boy, that sounds like me....durability and great price over 'latest thing'.

I even found the Symmons 'Sereno' line, with a sink faucet similar to the much coveted Dornbracht 'Meta', complete with matching shower trim.

(I'm starting to sound like a Symmons commercial...)

Thanks again for the advice, past and present.

The "choke for use with diverter tub spout" valves send all water to the tub spout when the valve is first opened. To flow water to the shower head, you then pull up the diverter knob on located on the tub spout itself. That causes water to backflow up the plumbing in your wall and out the shower head.

You can likely use that valve and simply cap the outlet on the bottom of the valve that would normally flow to the tub spout, essentially turning the valve into a "shower only" valve. Since it's not specifically listed that you can do that on the page you linked to, I recommend you confirm that with Symmons Tech before buying, or if you can find a pdf of the installation instructions it should be outlined there.

The call to their tech department is painless and they'll let you know if any problems could arise from plugging a port on a pressure-balanced valve. Shouldn't be an issue, but since they don't list the option it's a question worth asking.

I'm surprised they don't have a "-1-" valve listed without the volume control lever. That's why I recommend the call to their tech department. It seems odd that it's not listed.

Conclusion? If you want the volume control lever for the shower head, you can just straight away order the ds-86-1-lr-op. If you want a cleaner face plate with no volume control (the look of the valve you linked to), then call and ask them if you can use the ds-86-2-lr-op valve and just plug the bottom outlet that would normally flow to the tub.

The valves are likely the exact same valves, but the 86-1 probably has the bottom tub outlet capped to make it shower only. The diverter spindle then becomes the volume control since it's diverting flow to either the open shower outlet or plugged tub outlet.

The 86-2 has the tub outlet open to make it a 2-function valve, with the diverter spindle in the valve removed. The diverter knob located on the tub spout then becomes the diverter.

Symmons Tech 1-800-796-6667