Can a great system make a mediocre recording sound good?

I've found the opposite - the better the system, the more it reveals how bad/mediocre the source was.... Good sounding sources sound even better, though.... 

100% yes. Recordings are works of art, some abstract, and a good hifi let’s you soak it all in.

But you have to learn to appreciate recordings as works of art with unique qualities for better or for worse, not that most are deficient in some way or not technically perfect.

The fact that good recording sound way better does not contradict the fact that the less wellrecording begins to be interesting by the way you detect new acoustical cues... it is no more only a mess...

No room system can make bad good...

But a good room /system will make bad interesting no more a mess...

I listened for example now with more pleasure to the very bad recording of Scriabin opus by Michael Ponti a musical marvel in horrible recorded way, but now it is more interesting even if it stay bad recording ...You guess more about the subtle touch and Italian virtuosity of the pianist... you read more between the acoustical cues and line so to speak...

Same phenomenon with the bad recorded Sofronitsky...

I've found the opposite - the better the system, the more it reveals how bad/mediocre the source was.... Good sounding sources sound even better, though.... 

Then you lack something in your acoustic tuning or system tuning...

A balanced room /system must be neutral in a way which will make it able to reveal for the better all there is to be revealed acoustically...

I perfectly distinguish between bad and good recording , but i enjoy listening them all... Sound is no more an obstacle anyway for the music...

I go for systems that do their best to tell the truth but don't have a distorted hissy fit when a recordinging or pressing ain't perfect. True, nothing can help some of the grindingly bad 1960's 45rpm singles I own. But if the system has the wherewithal to find what is best within the groove/digital stream et.al., I'll forgive the recording's transgressions.