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How Ruark learned to roar

For 40 years, Ruark has combined British craftsmanship, thoughtful design and exceptional sound — in equal musical measure…

Words by: Jonathan Wells

The derivations may be different — but the sounds? They’re similar. One, a slightly tweaked take on Alan O’Rourke’s own surname, the man who, alongside his father Brian, founded a modest hi-fi company in 1985. The other comes from an Old English word for a sound that is powerful, full-bodied and impossible to ignore. It’s fitting, then, that each should be as resounding as the other. Because turn up the volume, fine-tune the output and, boy, does Ruark know how to roar.

But its roar is only part of the story — even if Ruark’s systems have all the decibels and whistles you could wish for. The company was built on one simple belief. “That we could do something better,” says O’Rourke. “My father brought his cabinet-making skills, I brought my engineering background, and we shared a love of music. We wanted to make loudspeakers that sounded wonderful, looked beautiful and felt at home in people’s living spaces.”

Alan O’Rourke

Four decades on, that modest hi-fi company has grown into one of the most distinctive names in British audio — without losing the hands-on spirit with which it began. Because for Ruark, being British has always meant making things properly, with an engineer’s ear, a craftsman’s eye and very little noise — outside the obvious.

“There’s a certain British instinct for understatement,” says O’Rourke. “Products should perform brilliantly, but they should have warmth, character and a sense of proportion, too. And Britain has a wonderful audio heritage, built by enthusiasts, engineers and craftspeople who care deeply about music.”

“Britain has a wonderful audio heritage…”

Just look at the R810 MiE, a hand-finished take on Ruark’s flagship music system. The ‘MiE’ stands for ‘Made in England’, and the collection — first introduced in 2021 and now revived for Ruark’s 40th anniversary — takes the art of audio cabinetry to another level.

Available in Penta-Chord Walnut and Leaf-Line Oak, each R810 is unique, its marquetry painstakingly cut and arranged before layer upon layer of lacquer is applied, with hand-sanding between coats. The result is less like a piece of consumer electronics than a piece of fine furniture — albeit one capable of making a very considerable noise.

The Ruark R810 MiE

Because at Ruark, the listening experience begins long before the music starts. The brand’s thinking is simple: if something is going to sit in your home, you should want to look at it, touch it and spend time with it just as much as you want to hear it. “Because our products live in the home,” explains O’Rourke, “often in full view and used every day. They should enhance a room before they are even switched on, then reward you with beautiful sound. For us, visual appeal, tactility and performance are all parts of the same experience.”

It’s about approachability and accessibility, says O’Rourke. Great sound shouldn’t require a working knowledge of hi-fi, and Ruark wants its customers to feel they never have to compromise on performance — even if they don’t have an advanced degree in audio engineering. “Music is for everyone,” he says, “so enjoying great sound should never feel like a technical test.”

The Ruark R710 CD Hi-Fi Console

Connectivity is key to that sense of freedom. Streaming, vinyl, CD — why choose? The R710 is designed to accommodate them all, from high-resolution streams and Bluetooth to a built-in phono stage and integrated CD drive. It means you can follow the music rather than the format, rediscovering an old record one moment and finding something new to stream the next. “A great system can reveal a familiar recording in a new way,” says O’Rourke. “That feeling never gets old.” Perhaps that’s why he sees the R710 as the system that best encapsulates Ruark’s modern mission.

“It brings together our loudspeaker heritage, love of tactile design and enthusiasm for both physical and streamed music,” he says. “Paired with Talisman-R, it feels distinctly Ruark: a modern system with real character, made for living and made for listening.”

The Ruark Talisman-R Floorstanding Speakers

The Talisman-R, too, lives up to its name. Its job is to make the technology disappear, with natural driver materials, carefully selected components and an enclosure engineered to keep unwanted vibration and resonance at bay. The result is a floor-standing loudspeaker that is as much a work of audio art as it is a feat of engineering. Many might not understand the benefits of a ‘decoupled baffle’, ‘dual damping strips’ or ‘compound wadding’ — the lingo can get pretty technical — but you needn’t know what any of it means to appreciate the result: a speaker that can whisper when it needs to, but really roar when the music demands it.

And to incorporate all these technical touches into a design that looks this good? It’s an achievement. But it’s one Ruark carries across the range, from its larger loudspeakers to its tabletop radios and streaming speakers. Take the R1S Terracotta, launched as part of the brand’s 40th Anniversary celebrations. Its subtle curves, wooden construction and handcrafted grille give it a character that feels distinctly more ‘homely’ than ‘hi-fi’. Ruark isn’t interested in making speakers that need to be hidden away. They’re designed to be seen, handled and enjoyed — as much a treat for the eyes as the ears.

The Ruark R1S Terracotta

Perhaps that instinct comes from O’Rourke’s father, Brian, who trained as a furniture and cabinet-maker and instilled in the brand a philosophy of “evolution rather than revolution”. “We favour clean, timeless design, proven technologies and useful features rather than novelty for its own sake,” says O’Rourke. “Most importantly, we build around excellent sound, because great musical performance does not go out of fashion.”

However you listen to it, that’s the real charm of Ruark. For all its handsome designs, meticulous engineering and high-fidelity innovations, the brand never loses sight of the simple pleasure at the heart of it all — sticking on something you love and hearing it like new. Whether it purrs or roars, the point is the same — to make you want to keep listening.

“And I hope we continue to grow and introduce more people to the pleasure of great sound,” says O’Rourke. “What must never change is our independence, our family spirit and our desire to create products that we would be proud to own ourselves, products that people will love, use and cherish.”