I dunno... although I can tell the difference between recordings quality, I have speakers that sound great with just about anything: Epi 100, and Klipsch Heresy IV. Just have to have the attitude: well, it’s Hank Williams, of course the recording isn’t audiophile-pristine... but the music’s great. Likewise, Black Sabbath and whatnot. I wouldn’t even want speakers that need pristine recordings to enjoy the music; in fact, I had some and tried to like ’em, but they just weren’t worth the restrictions on music and on listening position, so out the door they went... I like non-picky practical all-arounders.
Also note that some music of yore was actually mastered to sound good in a car, on a typical cheap car radio/stereo playing FM over the air... or even AM. Plus with the ambient noise of a car, I do agree that crankin it up in the car is cool and why I insist on having a cd player in the car... I hear a lot of oldies but goodies that way, and can test out cd "new finds" from thriftstore without much commitment of time nor money.
Bass and treble controls are a wonderful thing, and it’s one reason why I like gear with actual knobs to make it easy just to reach out and adjust at whim. It’s one fault of my Marantz Ruby amp: no knobs.