What brand was better than it is today?

Infinity was once made great speakers. Not any more.

The early Marantz tube gear before 1965!
http://audiohistory.com/files/documents/marantzhistory.pdf

Sansui is out of the game and only makes televisions so they technically do not count.  Altec Lansing comes to mind. 

Heh, I'm going to throw out a brand from left field.  Emotiva.  Even though their preamp/dac have been pretty steady (okay but nothing special), their amplifier design has slowly taken a nose dive over the years due to compromises in design.  The latest Gen 3 stuff is the worst because of that damn switching power supply and, based on the bias resistors, they are running with a lower Class A bias, making their amps close to a Class AB/B type.  Nothing as good as their Gen 1 XPA or XPR series.