What brand was better than it is today?

The good ol’ Red, White and Blue. Member..? The American Dream and all that..

Oh, and Pioneer. 

Dual, Sansui, Adcom ... solid value icons of the past ... I had all of these in my youth ... but they are gone and so don't really qualify as answers to  the original question.  They have been replaced with more modern .. and better .. alternatives from Rega, Rogue Audio and Outlaw respectively.

I have a new Marantz for my home theatre and I think it to be a most excellent product and at least equal to anything from the past in its inflation-adjusted price range.

For me, the clear answer to the original question of this thread is Infinity.  I still have a Modulus satellite-subwoofer system I bought brand new in 1989.  When I bought it, Infinity gave me a personal tour of their factory in Chatsworth, California.  That system represented the zenith of Infinity's excellence and it served me very for many years.  I attend AXPONA every year and always listened for speakers that could better that Modulus system.  Of course many always could, but at what price?  I eventually replaced the them in my reference system with a pair of Magico S3.  I never have heard any speaker match those Infinitys for the $3300 I paid.

Ihasaguy.....I have a Dual 1219 on my 3rd system that looks like it was made yesterday and sounds better tan new due to upgrades
M

Nearly every vacuum tube manufactured today is inferior to the originals, many from the 40's and 50's.  They had secret metallurgy that is not available in today's tubes.  Also, the manufacturers of most tubes have inferior quality control and technology that the old tube makers had.

@fleschler 

Well, that is to be expected, I think.  Vacuum tubes were in their day essential to the consumer electronics industry as well as to the defense industry.  For whom would it be profitable today to carry on such aggressive research into a technology all but obsolete outside of audiophilia?  The Russians carried on a bit longer than the rest of the world due to dependency on their aging equipment.  I have, incidentally, worked as an engineer on Russian military equipment.  It was extremely robust and reflected some of highest levels of engineering work I have ever seen.  I just re-tubed by preamp with brand new Russian tubes and I think they sound pretty good!