Sleeper Vintage Receivers, AMps, Tuners, TTs,etc..

People need to remember this is HIEND not your midfi of the 70's and 80's

with that said I find that there are a few really really good sounding receivers most will get poo poo'd because your audiophile friend says so ...LOL

if we did some head to head comparisons with vintage receiver/amplifiers..I would bet the house that the vintage would almost always win...

more of my thoughts.... the problem is not knowledge or knowing how to build something better....the problem is finding good sounding components(capacitors,resistors,diodes,transistors etc) most of these made in the hayday 70's-80's were very hi quality and more importantly much better sounding (like music) this IMO is a problem

Lawrence
Fidelity Forward

The ADS electronics were excellent, including their tuner, amp, and receiver. I got their tuner from a pawnshop around 2000 for $80. Still have it and use it.

Hitachi also made some sleepers starting around 1976. Since they could source themselves for many parts, they used closer tolerance parts (or so said the sales rep). They also created the Class H amplifier, which enabled their mid-powered amps to hit clean peaks like a super power amp without the size, heat, and cost. Their 3-head cassette decks gave Nakamichi a run for the money at much lower cost, and didn't need azimuth alignment because they used a single head assembly to hold both the record and playback gaps.

The Hitachi P-38 turntable was not as heavily built as the Technics, but I owned one and there was something about that turntable that worked really well. Maybe it simply had a better tonearm, but with a good cartridge match it threw a holographic soundstage.

And if you come across anything by Tandberg from the '60s to the '80s, it's probably worth buying unless it's overpriced or beat to hell.

Not sure if its a "sleeper" but I have a Tandberg 1055 that I bought a few years back and had it totally overhauled 5 years ago., despite the fact that it was still fully functioning (except the phono stage).Looks almost brand new some 46 years later. Its not in my main system, but it's the piece of equipment that the nearest and dearest to me.  Love the simple Norwegian style.The Tuner section is to die for but seldom used these days. 
    Was looking for a McIntosh 5100 like I grew up on but just couldn't resist this little Scandanavian beauty. Sounds great and built like a tank.
     
     

Tandberg for sure. The Onkyo A-5 and up series ( the A-5 was class A up to 5 watts ) and as mentioned the ADS Atilier 

Thankfully there have been many good receivers.  The best I have owned is the Magnum Dynalab 208