What is a high end stereo SUPPOSED to sound like?

Thanks for the responses. Drubin, I would say it SHOULD sound like live if the RECORDING sounds like live. Like Minor1 and Marakanetz said, you have to compare to another high-end or live to really know if it's the recording or the stereo that is off.
If you only listen to a certain type of music, like female vocals, maybe you would tune it to a particular sound. But if you listen to a wide variety of music, that strategy could make some recordings worse while others would be better.
I agree that the room is a HUGE factor. I spend a lot of time listening to a boom box at work and it does have 1 redeeming quality - minimal room interaction. But IMHO, the Holy Grail would be 100% CORRECT room interaction.
So would an anechoic chamber which has NO room effects be the best room interaction?

A high end stereo should sound just like a 1960's Japanese transistor radio... Only better.
Well, maybe much better.

Elizabeth, you are saying a high-end stereo does more, but the trick is getting it to do more of the RIGHT things than more of the WRONG things?

This is getting more complicated than I originally planned but:
1) Can a stereo make a recording sound better than it really is?
and
2) If so, can it do it consistently?
or
3) Is the best you can hope for is to mess up the recording as little as possible? I.E. add or subtract nothing.

Well a very slight amount of euphonic coloring would be best IMO. (unless you have unlimited funds to blow on equipment)
I have it in my VAC Standard preamp i use just as a glorified tube buffer to ameliorate the digital glare from my only slightly better than average digital front end.
If i had $50,000 to blow in a digital front end, I would not need the VAC.
So IMO a little euphonic coloration is better than a little 'honest but crap sounding stuff". (If that helps any.)
And yeas, equipment CAN be found which makes most recordings sound good, and still be close to the truth.
(IE not 'just' masked with colorations..)
Other may and will disagree. Such is life.

Foster_9,
Well said, that`s my standard also.
Regards,