Raquel, I think your points are well taken. Here is how I would comment on the whole garage based thinking.
I would say that that almost all of the smaller companies are one to 10 person operations, and almost all of the larger more established companies are not.
Examples of large companies; CJ, ARC, Krell, Levinsion,etc.
Examples of small compamies: CAT, Resolution Audio, Lamm, etc.
Some of the best sounding gear comes from some of these smaller companies.
I remember many years ago when a dedicated recording engineer hand made out of corrian an ultra high performance two way recording monitor to master his own recordings on.
That man was David Wilson. Fast forward and look at the company now, they are not in a garage now. This is the story with many of the now giants of this and many other operations.
Apple computer was started in a garage.
What matters is your comfort level in the product, technology, and the people behind the product.
Part of the charm is that most of the products we covet are rare hand made devices.