I just gave my old rack system to my son. When I went over there to make sure he had it hooked up right, I thought. . .damn, this thing still sounds great. He listens to the classic rock from my era and it's better than what many of the surround/movie people would dare to admit. I had just replaced the surrounds. The woofers and mids were still perfectly centered with no side-to-side slop or sag, and I beat the hell out of those speakers for years. No scuffing or scratching either, even without the surrounds attached.
There's an ambient presence in those large paper cones that's readily apparent as soon as you start moving up the volume range from the very bottom to the top. And the mid range and tweeters manage to forgive a lot, still with letting the important bits through. That's a lot to ask of even the best speakers. Someone, somewhere, knew what they were doing with all that.
Now, some were ridiculous, like with what they call, "kabuki speakers," where they crammed as many drivers into cabinets too small for it, but we were aware of that back then.
With that said, when someone says they want to revive some old school gear, I highly encourage it. If it wasn't too gimmicky to begin with, chances are, it can be pretty darn good.