What brand was better than it is today?

Threshold, Marantz, Mark Levinson, Martin Logan, Pass Labs, Revel, B&W, lots of others. The problem with the question is relativity. Rega was once the 2nd best turntable, for example, now they don't make the list at all.

Everything was better sounding 30 or 40 years ago because there was a lot less RF floating around in the air.

The other problem is that many people don't get the distinction between sound reinforcement, pro audio gear and that designed to reproduce music.
JBL and Klipsh for example have never made good speakers for music reproduction. DJ turntables sound aweful compared to a Pro-ject or Clearaudio. 

But musicloversaudio, rap-“DJ”s only use turntables for serato time code, because they don’t care about sound quality - it’s only rap. 

How about the question in reverse... what brand is better today than it used to be? I'd pick JVC. Known years ago for their crappy VCRs and stereos, today they manufacture some of the best home theater projectors ever made under 40k.