Unusual countries for audio gear

The Wand Master 14.4 turntable is made in New Zealand. Awesome turntable!

@mapman 

How are these companies when it comes to providing support including repairs when needed?

Good question.

I had no problems with any of the firmware upgrades for my DAC (Ideon Audio Epsilon Meta) -- on the contrary, the service level was first class (alert from them for online upgrade, immediate response to my suggested dates, etc).

No repairs ever needed so far

I would add Java Hi-Fi, which is from New Zealand. We carry their most excellent & high bang-for-the-buck integrated amps at Alma Audio, and really like 'em a lot.

https://almaaudio.com/collections/java-hi-fi

Cyprus, Serbia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania — very interesting.
I'm curious about this question in part bc countries/companies that offer high value for lower cost might come from these countries as they try to break into the market.

@richardbrand  Lovely country and I agree though there is some local audio manufacturing albeit small and specialized.  My company has a very strong presence in Australia and and we did quite a bit of sponsorship in you Supercar Series.

One advantage of being in Australia is that we are almost equally far from everybody else, except New Zealand.  Everybody wants to sell us stuff and we have no barriers to trade!

Enthusiastically representing Switzerland, we (Alma Music + Audio https://almaaudio.com) also carry the full Stenheim line of speakers and the absurdly good Nagra line of electronics. And let's not forget the incredible Vinnie Rossi, from the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts!

@foggyus91 

Thanks for the compliment about my adopted country, which by and large is hot!

One of the themes here is that cold climates might induce more thoughtful designs.  I found out through this forum that the coveted Dohmann turntables are from Melbourne, which is renowned for getting four seasons in one day.  On the other hand, our snow fields are bigger than Switzerland but give no signs of spawning any HiFi startups

I dont know if we can count Yoruba talking drum as a piece of audio...

Certainly not, It is a musical instrument...

But the best book on acoustics i ever read was written by a Nigerian acoustician Akpen J. Essien who play also the Yoruba talking drum and was inspired by it to wrote his doctorate revolutionary thesis on acoustics...

After revolutionizing acoustics is there an audio company in Nigeria, i doubt it ?  But who knows if  it takes  someone from Nigeria to understand acoustics ....

@foggyus91 

Not relevant here, but rather surprisingly, Australia does export snow-making machines to Switzerland.  Climate change is making snowfall less reliable in both countries.

On the Supercars, they started as genuine production cars you could buy at car dealers.  The slogan was "Win at Bathurst on Sunday, buy on Monday".  So we had the fastest 4-door production cars in the world you could actually buy

My office in Canberra was bang in the middle of the parliamentary triangle and across the road from Parliament House.  For two years in a row, the Supercars raced right there, but winter in Canberra is too cold for the punters and we gave up holding that race!

New Zealand has had Perreaux and Plinius for a very long time.

More recently, Antipodes, Mad Scientist.

I would look at the Gato Audio direct to consumer out of Copenhagen. Absolutely stellar stuff. For example, I own the 150 integrated amplifier and it is absolutely astounding for about 5k. Used to be close to 9k when they had distribution and dealers to pay for.

What you notice is audio is low tech so talented people anywhere can make interesting things. 

I have family in Norway and it amazes me how much hifi comes from such a small population. 

I was impressed with the speakers and DAC from Cinnamon Audio (Portugal) that I heard at Capitol Audiofest thisbpadt November.

Mexico: Margules audio: tube and ss amps, speakers

Serbia (mentioned above): NAT amps, unusual designs

Slovakia: ProJect electronics

Poland: Feliks Audio (electronics), Closer Acoustics (speakers)

Finland: Amphion, Genelec

@chenry Pro-Ject is Austrian

Gano:

The company is Austrian, HQ in Vienna, their production of electronics is in Slovakia.

overall, the former Eastern bloc is very tech and manufacturing oriented. Throw in culture, classical music culture, education, I am in no way surprised they have so many companies

There is a massive hi fi industry in Poland - including J Sikora Turntables and JCAT and Exact in streaming related products.

Also in Lithuania Less Loss Cables.

In Greece, Kostas Metaxas's intriguing creations including his RTX Tourbillion tape deck.

Currently using a Keces amp (Taiwan) and Audel speakers (Sicily).

Vicoustics from Portugal

South America? Anything?

Sempersonus, wonderful idler drive turntables designed and manufactured in Portugal

Greece: Ypsilon 

Switzerland: CH Precision and Dartzeel 

(Aries Cerat is out of Cyprus, not Greece.)

E.g., Poland, Greece, the Baltic countries.

Japan excels in making superlative audio components - especially Accuphase, as well as Luxamn, Esoteric etc.

As a Canadian I can enjoy Class A amps most of the year powering Canadian made Verity Audio speakers.

@toronto416 Japan excels in making superlative audio components - especially Accuphase, as well as Luxamn, Esoteric etc.

Would you consider Japan an "unusual" country for audio?