INSIDER: INTERVIEW WITH TOURAJ MOGHADDAM

He’s perhaps best known as the founder of Roksan Audio, and is now the man behind the Vertere Acoustics brand. We met Touraj Moghaddam to talk about all things hi-fi...

- Touraj Moghaddam

Touraj Moghaddam is still best known as the founder of Roksan Audio and the designer of the long-running, innovative and rather brilliant Xerxes and TMS turntables. But for most of the past decade, he’s been building his Vertere Acoustics brand into a byword for excellence when it comes to vinyl replay and cable manufacture.

We met Touraj to find out more about his background and the experiences that have led to his decades-long success.

WHF: How did you first get interested in hi-fi?

TM: I’ve loved music for as far back as I remember and used to listen to records on our all-in-one Emerson TV/ Radio/Record Player. I was fascinated by how the ‘needle’ on a record could produce music, and how the auto stack-play mechanism worked. In fact, from memory, my father and I were the only ones who could operate the record player section of the unit. This love for music and the workings of the record player has stayed with me since then.

What was your first hi-fi system?

The first ‘hi-fi’ system I bought was a record player system that consisted of a turntable integrated with an amp, and two hang-on-the-wall speakers.

I bought it from the PYE electrical shop in the village when I was in fourth form at school. I recall that it was made in Russia and became the main source of music in our dorm. Everything from Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Hawkwind to Yes and even Monty Python was played on that record player.

How did Roksan Audio start?

By early 1985, I had made a record player for myself to address the shortcomings of the one I had at the time. A few friends who heard it wanted one for themselves.