which Brand of Reciever produces the Best Audio?

If you are accustomed to vintage, buy a reciever to do the HT and surround, and a 2 channel preamp with Home Theater bypass, and a seperate front channel amp. Best of both worlds. Denon and Onkyo are great for HT, if you want hi-end stereo sound you are not going to get there with any reciever, even an Arcam or NAD (I have had lots of problems with NAD's, but they sound good)

If your #1 concern is sound quality, I would recommend sticking to a good pre/pro (the older and quite inexpensive Krell HTS sounds awesome) and a good 5 channel amp. It will probably end up costing you close to the same as a new receiver, but sound quality will be superior. You will probably give up some of the lossless decoding capabilities (quite a few BluRay players can do that for you though), and very likely HDMI switching (connect video directly to Plasma with audio going through coaxial and/or 5.1 analog input for lossless decoding in the BluRay player).

Arcam does make some very good sounding receivers and the Sunfires sound decent but can deliver lots of power and will drive almost anything.

Outside of running a high quality HT pre into your flavor of amplifiers, what you're asking for in a receiver to run modern HT simply doesn't exist.

IMO, not all "digital" is cold and lifeless when implemented correctly. Since the linear solid state receivers you've mentioned above are not to your liking you might be limiting yourself. Keep in mind that most HT source components and their media is in the digital domain.

I find modern 7.1 HT is simply too much fun. If you have a large display the improvement over 5.1 in the L,C,R, dialogue placement alone is worth living with these current digital shortcomings. In time we may see a larger selection of hardware to fill differing tastes. I always suggest biasing the budget towards a higher quality display and speakers that won't need upgrading later and going thrifty on a receiver that may get a huge transformation next season.

Classe', Meridian, Anthem, and Arcam, are offering higher quality 7.1 systems and I believe McIntosh is developing a substantial system with very detailed room equalization. I have no idea if any of these systems will fill your requirement for "something warm". If and when you find it, I hope you let us know where you landed.

The vintage sound is no longer considered the "best" audio sound. Best audio for HT in my book would be Meridian,then Cary...any of which would be 5 figures worth of HT audio equipment

Modern "sound" is less fuzzy and warm than vintage sound, less "round", and probably more truthful than the vintage sound you love and that your ears have grown used to. Some of what you are hearing in your current system is, frankly, coloration, but that is part of its appeal for you. It may not be "truthful" or truly transparent and detailed (the modern holy grails of audio) but it is forgiving and easy on the ears - it's also what you like. The price you pay for that smoothness is slightly rolled off highs, a bit off extra mid-bass to midrange warmth...which results in a lack of transparency and detail, which isn't necessarily a bad thing with HT and digital audio recordings, but its not the current "flavor".

Also keep in mind that many HT fans have never heard high quality high end audio only rigs, much less mellow vintage components, so they have no idea what sound you're aiming at.

It seems to me you don't necessarily "want" a SOTA, much less a modern sound, so although they don't sound vintage, gear from Arcam, McIntosh and B&K, components known for their dynamism and warmth, are the way to go. NAD is also pretty good but a step below the above.

The Denon 7.1 channel digital receiver, model AVR-1507. Some told that Denon is the Mercedes of home theater receivers.