There's not much info on forensics out there but there is a little. It's a pretty small world and not many people are doing it. a good place to get some info about restoration might be from some of the companies making the gear like cedar. I know that a couple of people that are just begining are using the waves retoration bundle. That's a great tool to begin with as it's pretty powerful and you don't have to sell your first born to get. I know that soundsoap is another alternative to that. The hardware is the best tool but it can be quite pricey if you don't already have a client base.
Headphones like the akg's are great studio headphones because they can take a lot of abuse and they don't make you vomit when you listen to them. but for critical listening they don't cut it. I'm still trying out different headphones but haven't decided on a pair yet. The problem is that I have expensive tastes. I always seem to like the very pricey ones and since I don't use headphones that much, I find it hard to drop 2 grand on a pair. But you should check out Cedar, waves, soundsoap to start with and see if you can get any info from them.

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm always so impressed with the knowledge and professionalism of this forum... I have tried Waves Restoration in the past and was quite happy with the results. Has anyone heard anything good or bad about the new pro verions of Soundsoap? There doesn't appear to be a trial version available. Thanks again for your help.

I did have a trial of soundsoap but didn't really put it through any tough paces. Just kind of ran some stuff through it to see if it worked and it seemed to be ok. I have the Waves restoration software and i think it does a very good job. I was really amazed at what it could do with some very old vinyl that i needed to clean up for a movie.