Did the Old Receivers Sound Good?

No… that old stuff is just old stuff. I have an old Marantz, and had a couple old receivers… but they are not remotely competitive with todays high end… or any high end at any time. There was a dip in performance when point to point wiring was given over to printed circuit boards… but high end audio far surpassed old receivers… well since the advent of high end. There are a few folks that were happy with what they had… which is good for them.

The NAD 3020 I took back to my tiny apartment for a shoot-out in the mid 1970's truly sounded better than the Kenwood KW-70 receiver I'd been using for the previous several years. It didn't make one whit of difference that the NAD put out considerably less watts. It was a move that revitalized my audiophile tendencies, tendencies I'd put aside when girlfriends & dating entered my life.

By and large - No. I had Kenwood’s Rotel, I don’t remember them all. Never liked any of them. Or we wouldn’t have Hi- end would we? Tho for a relatively modest investment I currently get great sound. I wish I had some of the $ I spent back on that stuff as well. Between streaming and modern equipment good sound can be had pretty readily and very cost effectively. Around 10 K for normal people it can be done. Many will scoff. I would spend more if I had it.

I would agree with Russ69, based on what I know now.  Back in the late 60's and early 70's, I wanted to upgrade from FM radio to something better and knowing nothing better I fell upon Stereo Review. That magazine was filled with advertisements for receivers, not separates, so I purchased a Kenwood 5150 in 1972, a Dual 1215 turntable and KLH 17 speakers, all for $500..  I was happy with it until a used McIntosh MA 6200 integrated amp and a new Denon tuner became available. That's when the serious upgrading started.

I can't speak for other brands, but I owned several vintage Marantz receivers, and to me they sounded smooth and pleasing, if a little lacking in dynamics. That was a pretty good achievement for that time though, because a lot of the solid-state gear then was anything but smooth.