How much is about the recording

I'd also agree. But I do think it's possible to have a very revealing system and still listen to sub-optimal recordings and enjoy them. It's also highly dependent on the genre of music one listens to, I've found classical and jazz/blues to have the greatest delta of recording quality between poor vs. excellent.

@russ69  What was tuned up? How was that done?
Are these systems super bright? Or what does resolving mean here?

Well, it would take a book to tell the whole story but there are many ways to get where you want to go. The way I do it is find the right loudspeaker, the right amp for that speaker, the right tubes for the amp, the right preamp and tubes, the right source, the right speaker placement, the right room acoustics, and finally the right cables. (Lots of experience to do that, which means lots of wrong choices)

I don't do it, but maybe simple tone controls or frequency correction would be another way. (I'm not a fan of this method). 

Well, it would take a book to tell the whole story but there are many ways to get where you want to go. The way I do it is find the right loudspeaker, the right amp for that speaker, the right tubes for the amp, the right preamp and tubes, the right source, the right speaker placement, the right room acoustics, and finally the right cables. (Lots of experience to do that, which means lots of wrong choices)

^Thanks.^

I started that’s way and recently went back through the front end... maybe the equipment was already good enough as the changes were subtle…and everything seems to sound pretty good, unless the recording is overly shrill to begin with.

or it is to the point now that the recording quality is the biggest variable.

I am probably a bit lucky.

Are these systems super bright? Or what does resolving mean here?

Yes, they tend to be towards the brighter side, but you can have full high frequency extension without being too bright. Resolving is detail retrieval, that happens across the whole frequency spectrum, but you can take it too far. Harder to explain but I have steered away from a lot of super hi-end products that take detail retrieval too far. I want to hear the music sheets shuffling but I don't want it to dominate the recording.  

It all starts with the recording, and the quality of the recording. I listen to a wide range of music.  I like the Mozart Piano Concertos on Archiv LP's and discs (although the LP's are better).  I also liked Adele 21, but I don't think a good recording of that release exists.  So, while I like the songs, I hardly ever listen to the album because it sounds so crappy.  Then, there's recordings (LP's and CD's) that are recorded too hot, and they sound harsh.  Or, they are recorded too cold and sound dead.

But, when you find a great recording of music that you love, and you have a good system-- well, that's as good as it gets.