Can a great system make a mediocre recording sound good?

@bigtwins

100% I have a ton of music mostly metal that I enjoy in car and find unlistenable on reference system. These old recordings were engineered to be broadcast over an analog radio signal. Not digitized and run through a $2000 dac and 10 k speakers.

Step by step my system gets better.  And the poorer records come along with the system, most of the time. When I hear music that I have heard many times in the car or radio then I hear it on my system it is always a pleasant surprise. 

Recordings are rarely left alone i.e. remastering, remixing and even rerecording. Many recordings are muffled, muddy, over-miked, guitar one channel, guitar player on the other or too much effects or gimmicks.  Few times, this really can be all you concentrate on while listening. 

Another problem I run into since streaming:  the volume of the recordings.  This can mean a difference of 9 am to 12pm on the dial.  This happens after remastering or new recordings are recorded that way out of the gate. 

One should not sit there and be obsessed with recordings.  Enjoy.  Now, if you know a recording is well done and you want to evaluate, pick these out, otherwise just play what you like or let you or your streaming service pick out songs. 

Nope. A great system makes a mediocre recording sound mediocre.  There are lots of systems that make everything sound mediocre (and give the illusion that mediocre is somehow good), but that doesn't make them great systems.

If you ask an acoustician he/she will tell you that 80 percent is the room and 20 percent is the system (if not 90/10). Something to think about when you judge a recording being bad. Maybe its you and your system/room that is at fault. I’ve tried to learn the lesson and agree with others that have pointed this out. A good system should make any recording sound interesting. It’s an easy task to make a Steely Dan recording sound sweet.

+1 @gosta 

Well said, my experience exactly.