What brand was better than it is today?

Oldsmobile 

It might be easier to answer which companies are better today than they were in the past (much shorter list)..

Many of these great companies have been bought and sold many times over. The corporate model is to maximize profit not necessarily sound quality first. The bean counter accountants run these companies and the values that made the brand great, fade away in many cases.

Not always, but the list is long.

Marantz and Harmon-Kardon electronics.

Uh oh, I'm gonna piss offf some vintage audio collectors. I used to sell the classic silver faced Marantz equipment in the mid to late 70's. I liked that they were relatively compact and very well built. I didn't like what I thought was their muddy sound with a slight mid-bass bump to sound "warm". I was auditioning some speakers, a few years ago, and heard them through a modern Marantz integrated in the then $500 price range. I thought it sounded much more un-colored than their "classic" 1970's offerings. Of course the build and finish was many degrees inferior to the 70's products. I know that Marantz "reference" level products, built in Japan, are of much higher build quality. 

Velodyne is a big one for me.