I agree with Hoffman.
I work as editor for tv broadcast and I have the same problems every day with video and audio editing.
What will be the destination of the tape? A mono broadcast on tv, a multichannel home video o dvd? In other words what will be the system used by the listeners/viewers. It seems pretty obvious that at VG times you had to work on equalisation in order to achieve a live sound on the average hifi gear of the times.
For me it's useless an great mixing on my 10K $ studio monitors if the listeners will loose all my job because of their 200 $ loudspeakers, on the contrary you might loose informations, because in the studio the system is much more accurate than an average playback system, the voice can be mixed with music and a 10K system allow you to understand every single word. When I mix a documentary with oversound, music and live sound my goal is toward listener's playback system.
I know that low frequencies, usually under 100/130 Hz, are inaudible on normal broadcasting, when the wind hit the mic, I simply cut low frequencies and nobody will know that there was wind during the shooting, this would be impossible for a movie or dvd mixing.
Another problem I found working on edited tape depends on the previous editor. You must know how works your editing system. I can spot a mix on JBL monitors, because the editor attenuated low frequencies, (JBL monitors tend to bost them), on the contrary if a bad editor works with Tannoy or similar "thin" monitors you could have the opposite problem: "too much" low frequencies on edited tapes
The ageing and the use of tapes damage them, at least the video tape, analog, I use. Most of the old Ampex one inch videotapes in the italian archives are gone away forever and the restoration is a costly and difficult process.
To stay on the topic I have to say I did not listening at the RVG cd, I have the Mosaic that sounds pretty well for my ears.
For me too the RVG remasterings, and not only them, are a bit too "bright". I think it's more a matter of taste, and playback system, than a statement about the "real sound" of Art Blakey cymbals at Birdland 50 years ago.