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R1 Bluetooth Radio
Entirely Adorable
Your favourite chair. The well-worn sweater you always reach for. The watch your grandad gave you. Life’s full of things we treasure and for us, it’s our R1 radio. It was the first product we launched in 2006 and we still cherish it today – and so do our customers. It’s perfectly proportioned, beautifully made, deceptively powerful and entirely adorable. What’s not to love?
- Class leading sound with adaptive EQ
- DAB, DAB+ and FM tuners
- High quality Bluetooth receiver
- USB port for phone charging and shuffle playback
- High contrast OLED display with auto dimming
- Easy-to-use dual alarms and sleep function
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Light Cream lacquer with Ash grille -
Espresso lacquer with Walnut grille -
Midnight Blue lacquer with Ash grille
John Lewis exclusive -
Pine Green lacquer with Ash grille
Limited Edition
R1 Mk4 in Pine Green
Crafted in collaboration with Nordoff and Robbins
Representing a new look for the beloved radio, R1 MK4’s beautifully finished Pine Green exterior and handcrafted wooden grille bring the outside in, whether its soundtracking cosy winter nights by the fire or providing the ambience for a hazy summer afternoon.
A donation to Nordoff and Robbins will be made for every one of these limited-edition radios sold.
About Nordoff and Robbins
Nordoff and Robbins, the UK’s largest music therapy charity, has over 60 years of practice in using music to break barriers caused by illness, disability, and social isolation. It provides therapy across the UK, trains future therapists, and funds research to enhance its impact. The charity helps individuals, including those with autism, dementia, learning difficulties, brain injuries, and mental health issues, to connect and communicate through music. With specialist centers in several cities and sessions in schools, hospitals, and care homes, its training is validated by Goldsmiths, University of London, and approved by the HCPC. Nordoff and Robbins believes in transforming lives through music therapy.
“It sounds splendid, with spoken word, vocals and instrumentation all effortlessly smooth, articulated and engaging.”
“Be impressed by the smooth and natural sound you hear from the compact speaker. You’d expect it to be coming from a much larger music system.”
“If there was an award for ‘most perfectly radio-looking radio’, the Ruark R1 MK4 would win.”
“The Ruark R1 might be the most stylish DAB radio of them all.”
“It looks great and sounds fantastic, with more weight and authority than you might expect from a compact, bookshelf radio and impressive levels of space and detail.”
A New Approach
Each generation of our R1 has been an evolution of the original, but with R1 Mk4 we wanted it to be more progressive both in design and performance.
Using a precision moulding process has allowed us to gently profile the enclosure providing a fresh new look and the perfect surface for our new Light Cream and Espresso finishes. With acoustic treatment the enclosure is sturdy and acoustically inert, providing the ideal housing for our electronics and NS+ driver.
Enhancing the design further is a beautiful hand-crafted slatted wood grille. This brings added sophistication and creates a timeless Eames like vibe, but overall, the design is still unique and distinctly Ruark.
Features at a Glance
- Class leading sound with adaptive EQ
- DAB, DAB+ and FM tuners
- High quality Bluetooth receiver
- USB charge and shuffle playback port
- Auto dimming high contrast OLED display
- Easy-to-use dual alarms and sleep timer
- Adaptive EQ provides ideal sound at all volumes
- Multiregional FM (World, USA, Japan and Korea)
- High fidelity Class A-B amplifier
- Ruark NS+ neodymium full range driver
- Acoustically tuned and damped polymer cabinet
- Adjustable bass and treble settings
- Hand-crafted slatted wood grille
- Intuitive RotoDial controller
- Optional remote control with 4 direct access presets
- Presets to store favourite stations – 8 per band
- Real time clock with battery backup
- Easily customised for hotel use
- USB-C multi format shuffle playback port
- Switchable analogue input for aux devices
- Headphone output memorises last used volume
- Multilingual UI (EN, DA, DE, ES, FR, IT, JA, KO, NL, NO, PL, RU, ZH)
- Automatic standby after 20 minutes of inactivity
- Power adapter: 100-240VAC, 50-60Hz input, 14VDC 1.5A output
- Dimensions: H175 × W130 × D135mm
- Weight: 1.5kg
‘Our crisp OLED display clearly shows time, alarm and programme information and auto adjusts to suit ambient light levels, making it a perfect bedside companion.’
A New Standard in Sound
Our previous R1 models were critically acclaimed for their sound, but with R1 Mk4 we have further raised the bar! With our heritage in high-fidelity loudspeakers we understand the complexities of enclosure and drive unit design and making sure that both are matched to each other. In particular our latest neodymium NS+ driver, as used in our R3 and R5 models, provides a smooth and extended frequency response and in R1 Mk4’s tuned enclosure delivers an impressive bass performance.
Driving the system is a punchy Class A/B linear amplifier for exceptional dynamics and with adaptive equalisation an eminently listenable sound is provided at all volume levels.
Packed With Useful Features
Our crisp OLED display clearly shows time, alarm and programme information and auto adjusts to suit ambient light levels, making it a perfect bedside companion. Radio reception is excellent, and a Bluetooth receiver allows you to enjoy R1’s great sound when streaming from your phone or computer.
FM parameters can be set to suit US and Japanese needs and a multilingual user interface makes R1 a truly international proposition. Also with a real time clock built in, time and date are kept active when power is disconnected or when transmitted data is not available.
The list of features continues, but other highlights include a USB-C charge/shuffle playback port, headphone output, switchable line input and of course our trademark RotoDial control system. Finally, for those seeking distant operation, we have an optional compact remote control available.
As we said back in 2006, radio never sounded or looked this good.
Sound at Your Fingertips
Our compact remote is a convenient addition to your R1 and allows total wireless control. Store and choose your favourite radio stations through four direct preset buttons, select your source input, control volume, pause, rewind or skip tracks and power-down.
Mains Powered Sound on the Move With BackPack 3
With its battery status display and improved power management R1 Mk4 works even better and longer with the our optional BackPack 3 and means you can enjoy R1’s rich mains powered performance where mains power is unavailable.
BackPack 3 attaches seamlessly to R1 and once fitted can be left permanently in place as it charges automatically whenever mains power is re-applied. A full charge will provide up to twelve hours of mains free listening depending on volume.
BackPack 3 is also compatible with our R1S Smart Radio and MR1 Bluetooth Speaker System.