There are quite a few independent old British brands in audio. I hope they stay small niche and independent in the face of consolidation and some genuine competition from China. There are Danish and Finnish brands too and the odd French one. Anyway I hope they can remain independent even as they move some parts of their manufacturing to Asia.

Curiously you can follow some designers from shop to shop as they move in their career evolution.

Anecdote and personal observation - the odd Finnish brands essentially catapulted from niche obscurity to wider recognition 15-20 years ago. Until then in "the common mind" there was Genelec, and then a vast gulf before anyone else.

Sometime before 2010 Genelec started to focus their offering to two markets: the absolute top-end studio kit, and at the same time expanding downwards in the market towards the top end of consumer range. While they retreated from the space between the two, other local players[tm] were happy to cover the now vacant hi-fi enthusiast space.

For some reason the same locales that originate lots of heavy-metal bands also happen to sport a concentration of high-end audio equipment shops.

(Happy owner of a pair of Amphion monitors. Described by my audiophile friends as "unforgivingly accurate".)