Top 5 recievers of the 70's and 80's ????

Harman Kardon 960
Pioneer 727
Advent 300
McIntosh 1900
Harmon Kardon 930

There were a bunch of good receivers in the 70's and 80's. Let see there was Rice, Branch, Irvin, Swan, Stallworth, Belitnikoff, Clayton, Monk, Largent, Joyner - just to name a few.

Tandberg 2060; Tandberg 2045; McIntosh 1900; Harman/Kardon 150+ quad; Marantz 2230.

Even with the wide-variety of wattage ratings, these models (to me: based-upon once having used them second hand) all had the ability to serviceably run old New England-type acoustic suspension speakers (A.R./KLH/Advent/EPI) good enough without imploding (which: a lot of receivers claiming to have higher power, often by the same brand, couldn't handle).  Keeping in mind the axiom: budgeting for QUALITY SPEAKERS should *not* be left as an afterthought because THEY are what can make the sound of a less-than-top-of-the-line component sound better beyond expectations.  If an amp, of at least 50wpc, CAN'T hack it connected to a pair of 4-ohm speakers in real-world conditions: the design of the output stage is maxxed out with a skimpy shoehorned-in power transformer not having a large enough secondary and it doesn't merit wasting money on (the "monster" Superscope built Marantzes going for ridiculous money now suffer from this; Sansui, by contrast, had far more robust power outputs to cope with inefficient speakers).

Pioneer, IMO, had one-note boomy bass and lacked detail unless used with "West Coast" speakers copying JBL's exaggerated midrange sound.  Kenwood's vintage integrateds of the "KA" 8000 and 9000 lines (from 1978-1980) are far more worth looking into, because of their Accuphase-descended topology; than, say, mass-market Kenwood receivers would be from a similar era.

Not Nikko jump on the others ASAP.

Harmon Kardon  HK 730 twin power. I bought the Luxman R115 to replace it when a channel quit working (Power Supply). I HATED every minute with the Luxman. No bass line whatsoever. Just a thump of the bass drum. I had Original Large Advents so I know they were capable of good bass. I spent $80 to get my HK fixed and  sold the Luxman and lived happily with it for 10 more yrs. I still have it, though it needs some restoration. I mostly cringe when I see others who like it, in the same way I do when Pioneer is mentioned, though they had plenty of bass. I think I still hear some bass overhang from the early 80's. This is my experience. If you like them then so be it. We all have different preferences.