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

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.

The Concept receivers were very good. 
The Grundig receivers, when match with Grundig speakers are out of this world.