Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Figliozzi, who writes:
This [company] was mentioned in regard to the CES show out in Las Vegas:
It’s a Chinese company with a rather novel approach to the design of modern radios — AM/FM/Internet Bluetooth, along with the use of tube amplifiers in some models. The web site is almost all in Chinese but the pictures are cool.
Air Smart Audio is the parent company; Muzen Audio the subsidiary.
John also shared the following item from Radio World:
Muzen Audio Group’s founder Dejun Zeng, referred to as the “Father of the Tube Amplifier” in China, is looking forward to the new challenge, saying in a statement: “It is my greatest desire to build a legacy with this organization that will lead customers to say, ‘I am proud to have a Muzen radio.’”
The company received a 2017 CES Innovation Award for their new AM/FM/internet radio and Bluetooth speaker lines, the fifth CES Innovation Award received by Zeng. Muzen Audio also designs a series of vintage-style tube amplifier radios and what the company calls “on-the-road” radios.
(Source: Air Smart Audio)
Thank you, John!
From what I gather, Muzen radios are very much “boutique” radios, thus come with a “boutique” price tag–some models costing as much as $500 US.
Still: it’s refreshing to see a Chinese radio manufacturer marching to their own beat, making handcrafted products in small batches.
According to Twice.com, Muzen recently introduced the “Classic 1” AM/FM radio with Bluetooth speaker that is powered by a “fluorescent display tube amplifier.” Twice notes:
The Classic 1 is handmade and crafted with real rosewood, and every unit comes with a unique code verifying its hand craftsmanship.
Frequency response of the speaker is 75Hz to 16KHz, of the amplifier, 30Hz to 20KHz.
Pricing and availability will be announced during CES 2017.
I’m looking forward to learning more about Muzen radios! I do love the designs.
Click here to view the Air Smart Audio website (in Chinese).
Post readers: Anyone familiar with Muzen Audio or own one of their products? Please comment!
Wanted to let you know that I ordered a muzen original 3 AM FM Bluetooth retro radio from China. It is the unit that is held by the tallest person in the group from the CES show that is listed on this blogpost. I can’t say enough positive things about it. I am not very knowledgeable about radio/audio, but I am pretty sure that they use vacuum tubes for the amplifier like in there classic one model. Really outstanding sound. Radio reception is similar to the CC Radio EP Pro, in that it seems to who in stations at three sequential points on the dial with the middle point being the strongest. Happy to review it in more depth as needed, but again apologies at I have very little other than a little surface knowledge about radios and audio. -Eric
A friend has one of these radios that are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It looks really good and sounds remarkable for its size. However, it didn’t impress me enough to lay out over $120.00 for one!
I have the tiny Muzen Bluetooth Speaker/Radio from Indiegogo and it is a truly remarkable piece of sound engineering. It looks and sounds beautiful with good response across the frequency spectrum. Highly recommended
During my recent visit to Shenzhen, I bought two tiny Muzen radios, one is the chestnut skittle Prince’, the other is a ‘radioo’. The latter model had an exchangeable enclosure, mine comes with the diecast ‘foundry’. Both sound beautifully.
They do look really cool and retro. But I would have to read some really glowing performance reviews before I would even consider laying down any money.
Rosewood is an impressive material for cabinets. I will wait for the reviews on their shortwave version.
Definitely a company that thinks out of the box. I wish them great success with their product line.
Google translate makes a reasonable translation of Chinese to English! Good luck to the Dejun Zeng,
This looks like an AM/FM tube radio known as Tesslor R601. There is a stereo version R601S. Does anyone know anything about Tesslor or the actual original equipment manufacturer? There is a supposedly hi-fi transistor table radio sold as Tesslor R301 and also sold as Tecsun 1994. Now Tecsun is a company I’ve heard of being a regular SWLing.com reader though I don’t own any Tecsun radios. I find the mono retro-styled R301 intriguing — could make a good external speaker for SWLing, above average fidelity but not too bassey or too treble for those static crashes! Beyond a few Amazon reviews and one Youtube post (in 3 parts) I have not found much information on the R301.
Got hold of one in December in Shanghai. The sound does not match the looks.
These radios are absolutely beautiful works of art. I can only imagine what they sound like.