Roksan is a British manufacturer of high fidelity audio products for domestic use, based in Rayleigh, Essex. It is best known for its influential and innovative design for hi-fi equipment, and in particular its Xerxes platform for playing LP records.

The company

Roksan was formed in 1985 by Tufan Hashemi & Touraj Moghaddam, graduates of the University of London, Imperial College London & Queen Mary College. The company's first product was launched at a

hi-fi show in London in 1985.

The name Roksan itself is derived from the name of Roxana, daughter of the Persian King Darius. This closely reflects the Persian heritage and roots of both Hashemi and Moghaddam. Not surprisingly many of Roksan's product names have references to names of cities, places and famous people of Persia (now Iran).

Moghaddam, having then just obtained his PhD at Imperial College, became dissatisfied with the state of the audio arts when he heard his little TV set more musically satisfying than his already high-end Linn/Naim tri-amped audio system, and began experimentation. He deduced that where the existing turntable design failed was that the cartridge must be held still wherever the groove goes, and thus the mean line traced by the groove relative to the body of the cartridge needed to be constant. an Industrial Design graduate from Manchester Polytechnic, to assist in the development of new product lines. He contributed to the aesthetics of the first Radius record player, DP1 CD transport, ROK amplification, Attessa range and the flagship Touraj Moghaddam Signature (TMS) turntable, named after the company's chief designer and founder. In 2002, the TMS2 replaced the TMS turntable. John later rejoined the company to create the aesthetic design for the K3 range of electronics, the all-new Blak range and limited run Oxygene record player.

In 1996, the company was acquired by Verity plc, a hi-fi group that owned the Mission, Wharfedale and Quad brands. But when Verity demerged around two years later to concentrate on flat-panel speaker technology, Hashemi and Moghaddam reacquired their company. He remains at Vertere Acoustics, where he focuses his efforts on cables.

In November 2016, British HiFi manufacturers Monitor Audio acquired Roksan.

Products

Turntables

thumb|Xerxes.20plus turntable with Tabriz Zi armThe Xerxes, named after the Persian king who "went around having a good time", has been acclaimed by a number of hi-fi reviewers. This belt-drive turntable without a sprung sub-chassis challenged conventional suspension designs for build and sound quality. It succeeded in finding favour with British "flat-earthers".

The design attacked the "high-ground" by eschewing the spring isolation, which was then regarded as a major strength. Instead, it addressed the issues of Groove drag and lateral rigidity, the ultimate objective of which was to stabilise the relationship between cartridge stylus and the spinning record groove. Springs were not considered sufficiently rigid in the lateral plane, and permitted too much rotation of the suspended parts relative to the motor.

While most other designs relied on inertia (through platter mass) to attenuate the problem, Roksan retained a light platter, but addressed drag by mounting the motor on its own bearing and restricted its long-range movement by a small spring, so that the revolving armature could still drive the system.

Radius 5 & the Radius 7 are the entry-level turntables, the latter having a high precision and stability speed control built in, designed by Simon Taylor who joined the company in 2013.

Loudspeakers

Roksan was the first company ever to mechanically isolate the speaker tweeter from the bass unit using springs, in their Darius loudspeaker. Also in glass effect and pink finishes

  • 2018, Corus 2 midrange audiophile, moving magnet, vinyl turntable cartridge
  • 2019, SARA unipivot tonearm for use with high-quality turntables
  • 2021, Attessa range including turntable, Amplifiers and CD Transport
  • 2024, Caspian Series 4G range including Streaming Amplifier and Integrated Amplifier.
  • 2026, New models added to Caspian Series 4G range including Streaming Pre-Amplifier and Power Amplifier.

See also

  • List of phonograph manufacturers

References

  • Official Roksan website