Are most recordings so bad it's not worth spending large on speakers?

BAD:

1.  of poor quality or a low standard.

2.   not such as to be hoped for or desired; unpleasant or unwelcome.

3.  sucks <== audiophile specific def

There are some incredible recordings coming out these days, and they sound amazing on my system.  There are a couple-three companies putting out amazing sounding LPs that blow me away on how lifelike they sound.  Not sure about SACDs, but I hear they are great.  Just don’t listen to them much.  Don’t know Morrison Audio from any other dealer, but I’m very happy with the LPs I am purchasing these days.  Some of my older LPs from 30-40 years ago admittedly don’t sound great.  We all know that different releases sound different.  Great speakers (you choose) make good recordings sound spectacular, IMHO.  Enjoy the Music!  There is so much great music out there.

A lot of "modern music" does sound exactly the way it's supposed to for the intended audience. Overly compressed and played through cheap earbuds. Reproducing some of the studio sound accurately isn't possible because there were no musicians or studio involved-it's done on a computer with synthesized files. So, yes, in those cases it doesn't matter what your gear is because sound quality was never a priority.

Overly compressed

This is the key to bad sound, as there are no quite gaps/passages anymore between the softest notes and the loudness notes, they are all just given to you at the same level, which sounds LOUD! even when turned down.
Your brain doesn’t get a chance to chill in-between the notes anymore.

Go to the dynamic range website, and see the older first recorded version are less compressed that the later remasters! of the same album.
Sade albums when looking at this remember green is good, the later stuff is compressed red, orange, or yellow
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=Sade&album=Diamond+Life

Cheers George

There are many good points made in this thread. I've been listening to music for too many years to count on systems that range from a KLH model 11 portable to a Yamaha/Klipsch system. Mostly, I've listened to a system that consisted of fairly inexpensive but excellent speakers and electronics (McIntosh, Beogram, Advent) So as you can see, I am not a high-end listener.

That being said there are two distinct observations I can offer. First, room acoustics and speaker placement are probably the most important factors affecting the sound. More so than the speakers themselves. Second is the engineering of the recording. Maybe the order is incorrect. I have been struck with how wonderfully some early recordings can be and how horrible a few later recordings are. There is a mix in between. While it is possible to move speakers, it is impossible to improve on a poor recording.

I know this doesn't offer anything different, but I would note that it is often the simple factor that can make the most difference. My question is whether one is listening to music or to the equipment? I feel there is a bottom line under which poor equipment interferes with the music. moving above that line can be wonderful to a point. Past that point, it becomes diminishing returns and emotionally borders on obsession. In the immortal words of Justin Wilson "the wine, you like is the wine that's right.