Based on the south east coast of England, we are a family-owned company with an amazing, passionate team. Our inspiration is varied and comes from our experiences, things we admire, our love of music, and walks along the beach in Southend. This is the story of Ruark Audio.
Our origins go back to the early days of hi-fi. A lot has changed since then, but the principles of what makes a great music system are the same as they ever were, which is why we’re sticking to them.
Our founder, Alan O’Rourke, grew up playing guitar and surrounded by hi-fi equipment through his dad’s work in the industry. So it’s not entirely surprising that he went on to found his own audio company.
Our first product, back in the early 1980s was the Sabre – a lovely little bookshelf-type, two-way speaker that won awards and put us on the map.
In those days, all speaker cabinets were made of wood, many still are. Alan’s dad, Brian, was a trained cabinet-maker and worked with some of the pioneering greats of British hi-fi. He understood just how important materials and construction are to how a music system sounds. Like father, like son. And, it is these principles that we still apply today when we are updating or designing our products.
