Sony STR-6800SD

Smaller siblings to the monster STR-7800SD which unfortunately was only available all too briefly and discreetely - but said smaller siblings did sell very well !

Unlike often, these smaller siblings aren't directly derived from the big daddy but are a quite different electronic design : no toroidal transformer here but a very healthy and reliable circuit made to make music for a couple of decades and beyond.

Part of the ESII series which started with the TA-8650, TA-N5550, TA-5650, TA-4650, TAE-8450, TAN-8550 and which would be carried over to many later units such as the TA-N7B masterpiece, the ST-A7B masterpiece, the TA-E7B or even the PCM-1 !

As with most 1960s and 1970s receivers, this third series of STR Sonys were export-only, so Japan didn't see that iteration of ESII design, some of which you can read about here on TVK.

Among the features of the STR-6800SD are a MOS-FET front end, 4-gang varicap, LEC transistors, 2x 80W (8 Ohm, 20Hz...20Khz), an "acoutic compensator" inherited from the TA-8650 powerhouse, three pairs of loudspeaker terminals and ... Dolby FM compatibility :)
Smaller siblings drop in power, secondary functions and FM-Dolby.

You'll find a lot of forum threads here and there praising the sonic qualities of these receivers and showing "nudies" of them.
If they weren't built like the original ES series in 1965 (but what is ?), they sure made up with an even better price / quality / reliability ratio - typical Sony.