Why does this circa '75 receiver sound so good?

My favorite receiver (and B.T.W., that of many British audio reviewers) from the mid '70's was the Sony STR-6800 SD. It was built like a brick s**t-house, used a quality attenuator, not just a cheapo volume pot. Had an interesting Dolby FM de-emphasis switch (Broadcast Dolby FM was never implemented), and all control switches were of very high quality. It was conservatively rated at 80 wpc, and NEVER failed to deliver less than 105 wpc at the yearly McIntosh clinics. It totally destroyed a Marantz that I was previously using. The dealer did a blind A/B test (receivers hidden) between the Sony and a Pioneer (I forget the model #) rated at 160 wpc (twice that of the Sony's power). All the "victims" picked the Sony. I say victims, because those invited to the A/B test were all owners of the Pioneer! This Sony sold for about $500-, and flew off dealers shelves as soon as new inventories were received. I also liked the fact that it was very stable when driving 4 ohm loads (most home speakers in the '70's were rated at 8 ohms). You could toast marshmellows over most receivers when driving 4 ohm loads, and the bass damping and control went out the window with many other amps, including the Marantz.

Fatparrot - I recall that receiver, too. There is one of these on E-Bay right now for a current bid of 20 clams!

the goal used to be high fidelity...now its hi end...the dissatisfaction of those who spend way to much on products is a real problem in todays audio business.

So, today I returned the "high-end" integrated that a "high-end" dealer allowed me to demo. The old Kenwood was far superior in virtually every aspect. But, to touch on another aspect of the "high-end" business, the dealer basically accused me of listening to his merchandise and buying elsewhere--such as on the net. I have never took anything home from this guy before--and never will again. He failed to realize I value a seller-customer relationship above all else. I bought my Nautilus 805's brand new from another local dealer--paid top dollar plus sales tax--all for the sake of developing a good relationship with a local vendor. I could have easily saved over $400 online--that is how much I value the seller-customer relationship. Well, if the seller doesn't value that relationship, why should I? Too bad--as I have said before, I would gladly pay extra for this, but not when I am treated so poorly while he tripped over another customer with the means to buy anything in the store-literally. Guess I will stick with my receiver for a while and eventually buy my ARC gear online. Now, all I have to do is get the POTS cleaned on that receiver. Thanks for all the posts--maybe I will bid on that Sony receiver!!!

If there's one hard lesson I should have learned from my decades as an audiophile, it is this: if you find something you like, KEEP IT. Don't assume that you can improve on the Kenwood with an Adcom or whatever. Just keep the Kenwood for as long as you continue to feel it sounds good.

The other lesson from your experience: could it be, just possibly, that the high end is BS?

All of us who have tweaked out our systems with power conditioners and expensive cables and resonance control devices--what if you stripped your system back down to what it was. How much worse would it be? (I should shut up and try this experiment on myself.)