Ive had over 100 Receivers from the 70's. Best ones werent made by the usual suspects Pioneer/Marantz.
My faves...and best bang for the buck:
Sanyo JCX2900K, ONKYO TX 8500, Kenwood KR 9600, Sherwood S-9910
Sansui Eight Deluxe and the 9000 Series arent cheap but great too.
Sanyo and Sherwood can be found under 500 usually.
Luxman's are wonderful with Singer/Songwriter acoustic type music. Rock not so much. AMAZING detail for their time.
Harmon Kardon perform well but look REALLY cheap to me. Looks count!!
The worst sounding ones to me: YAMAHA "Natural Sound", SONY, TANDBERG.