Best Receiver?

I love the Sherwood S-7100A receiver for its excellent sound, simplicity and elegance.

On the current market the Yamaha RN2000A and MAC7200 are your top contenders. Semi vintage, Nakamichi SR4A was outstanding. Deeper vintage, I rate the Sansui 8 Deluxe and Pioneer SX1250 tops. Really deep vintage I agree the tube Fisher stuff was great. A Marantz 15 was their best one. But vintage means trusting a restoration to be done right. 
If your pocket goes that deep, the Yamaha is the winner, with all the connectivity and performance you need today. 

Luxman, R-1120... I had an R-1050 that I truly loved until I heard the 1120. Just more of the same but had a tighter grip on the KEF, Ref 103.2 I had in my vintage setup. 

Yamaha=Yamawatts

You might try Carver, Emotiva and Integra receivers. Buy them used. A couple hundred bucks will get you a unit that sold for thousands. You can always use the preamp outs to drive a better power amp later on. You will still get the benefit of their surround sound decoding features. Happy Listening!