Roksan

Roksan was formed in 1985 by Tufan Hashemi[2] & 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.[3]

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).[4]

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.[3] His ideas led him away from using the sprung sub-chassis as part of the speed-controlling system. Moghaddam built a prototype using a fire door. Hashemi, a friend who had heard the new prototype turntable and wanted one, teamed up to start the company.[3] The Darius loudspeaker design, based on the re-examination of the relationship between and magnitudes of movements of the tweeter and the woofer, was already in prototype. The concept stunned the trade when it was demonstrated at the 1985 hi-fi show where the Xerxes was launched.[3]

In 1990, Roksan employed John Cornock,[5] 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.[3]

According to public records, Touraj Moghaddam resigned his directorships of Roksan on 15 July 2011.[6][7] He remains at Vertere Acoustics, where he focuses his efforts on cables.[8]

In November 2016, British HiFi manufacturers Monitor Audio acquired Roksan.[9]

• 1985, introduction of the Xerxes turntable.
• 1986, launched the Darius loudspeaker
• 1987, introduced the Artemiz tonearm
• 1987, their first moving coil phono cartridge, the Shiraz, was launched.
• 1988, Roksan's first lifestyle product, the Hot Cake loudspeakers introduced.
• 1989, introduced their first phono amplifier, Artaxerxes, fitted inside the Xerxes, into which plugged directly the tonearm cable.
• 1989, launched the budget Radius record player, Tabriz arm and Corus moving magnet cartridge.
• 1990, first range of electronics, the ROK S1 stereo amplifier and M1 mono amplifier with matching pre amplifiers and power supplies.
• 1991, Roksan's first CD player, the ROK DP1 introduced
• 1991, launched top of the range TMS record player.
• 1992, Roksan replaced the ROK DP1 with the Attessa CD playing system consisting of CD transport, DAC and power supply.
• 1993, production of the new Ojan 3 and 3X loudspeakers started.
• 1994, Rokone loudspeaker was released in a variety of real wood veneers.
• 1994, Attessa and the ROK series of products were fully upgraded to DP3 and ROK 1.5 versions.
• 1995, the 3 plinth 10th anniversary Xerxes.X, implementing design ideas from the TMS, replaced the original Xerxes turntable.
• 1998, the four piece Caspian Audio System (Integrated amplifier, CD player, and FM Tuner) was launched.
• 1999, a digital surround sound processor (DSP), a five-channel AV amplifier and DVD player were added to the Caspian system.
• 2000, Introduction of the new Kandy line, lifestyle starter Audio System.
• 2001, the Caspian phono amplifiers were released.
• 2002, TMS2 replaced the original TMS.
• 2003, release of the Radius 5 turntable and Nima tonearm, and the Roksan set-up LP for record players.
• 2003, Kandy MKIII system, (Kandy integrated amplifier, stereo amplifier, Three channel amplifier, CD player and AM/FM Tuner) released.
• 2004, Caspian M-series (Pre amplifier, mono amplifier, integrated amplifier, stereo power amplifier, phono amplifier, CD player, FM tuner and dedicated Xerxes speed control).
• 2004, released ALTITUDE, its first ever recording of a collection of some very special music from some very talented musicians.
• 2005, 20th anniversary Xerxes.20 replaced the Xerxes.X, incorporated the new improved TMS2 bearing ball and the new Rmat-5 sub-plinth for record players; reference R-series7 mono block, preamplifier
• 2005, Kandy LIII integrated amplifier, power amplifier and CD player
• 2007, Platinum preamplifier and power amplifier
• 2007, Kandy K2 integrated amplifier, power amplifier and CD player
• 2008, TMS3 record player
• 2008, Xerxes 20+ record player
• 2009, Kandy K2 TR5 standmount ribbon speakers
• 2009, Radius 5 Mk-II/Nima record player
• 2010, Caspian M2 integrated amplifier and CD player
• 2011, Caspian M2 power amplifier
• 2012, Oxygene digital integrated amplifier and CD player AptX bluetooth connectivity
• 2013, Kandy K2 BT integrated amplifier with AptX bluetooth connectivity
• 2014, Kandy K3 integrated amplifier with AptX bluetooth connectivity, DAC and CD player
• 2014, Kandy TR5-S2 standmount ribbon speakers
• 2015, Capian VSC series record player speed controls and reference phono stage
• 2016, blak integrated amplifier with AptX bluetooth connectivity, and included DAC
• 2016, blak CD player
• 2016, Radius 7 record player with integrated speed control.[14] Also in glass effect and pink finishes[15]
• 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 [16]

• List of phonograph manufacturers

• Official Roksan website