What brand was better than it is today?

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.  

"I did think of the inverse question-what brands are better today than before?  "  Should Woulda Coulda

I will keep this to the first component (speakers) mentioned and 
ones owned and still have .

Mission and Celestion Speakers. Still made and no longer relevant from what I see out there. 

I believe  Sonus Faber and Klipsch Speakers are still great companies but have been producing less than stellar products for the mass merchandiser .  The ones I have are old ( 20 and 38YO )  and I still enjoy them immensely. Still good companies. 

KLH, the 9's were pretty nice. Those were the first fancy speakers I ever heard. What do they make today?