England-based Ruark has a complete line of powered small to medium size all-in-one music boxes as well as powered desktop speakers. But what caught my eye was the console-size R7 which managing director Alan O'Rourke called a "Radiogram." For US citizens, a radiogram is a piece of furniture from the UK that historically combined a radio and record player. In this case though, that would be a CD player and radio.
"The inspiration came from the Radiograms my grandmother used to have," said O'Rourke. "We thought it'd be real nice to build a modern interpretation with everything in one unit." The radio part includes FM, DAB (for the English market), and internet radio tuner. There is a CD player along with WiFi built in so you can stream from NAS drives, external devices or direct from a phone. For up to 24 bit streaming, aptX HD is included. There is also a phono stage, subwoofer built in, and 160 watts of class AB amplification (100 for the sub, 30 for each channel). And a cool little remote.
The UK designed and engineered Radiogram can also be networked with Ruark's other boxes for streaming around the house, and sounded quite nice in their display.
The company is currently looking for US distribution and O'Rourke guesses the retail will be around $3,000 when the product hits our shores later this year.
