Julian Vereker
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| Born: | 7 May 1945 Oxford, England |
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| Died: | 14 January 2000 |
| Occupation: | electronics engineer |
Julian Charles Prendergast Vereker, MBE (7 May 1945-14 January 2000) was an English audio electronics engineer, and founder of Naim Audio Ltd. of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Vereker was an engineer in the specialist high fidelity audio equipment field. He was a very influentual figure in the manufacture and retail of British audio in the 1970s and 1980s, and was appointed MBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1995.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Family and education
Julian Vereker was born in Oxford, England. He was the great-great grandson of the 3rd Viscount Gort. His great-grandfather had been Consul at Cherbourg and his grandfather a naval commander; his father Charles Vereker became Professor of Political Theory at Durham University. Vereker therefore grew up in a lively academic family, which did not prevent him from becoming a rebellious adolescent in the 1960s. Though requiring four attempts to pass O Level mathematics, he developed a passion for engineering, left Bryanston School at 16 to design and build his own car.
He then made improvements to a Mini 850 S, which he raced for several seasons, with two victories in 1967. This experience convinced him that reliability was the essential basis for all engineering achievement.
[edit] Professional life
Naim Audio Visual began in 1969, its first product being a unit capable of switching 30kW of lighting on and off in time to music.
Vereker loved making recordings of his friends. Prevailing wisdom at the time was that all amplifiers sounded alike. However, he found results so poor with the equipment available that he could not distinguish different performers, or different kinds of guitar. After some experimentation, he decided to make his own. The first Naim power amplifier was sold in December 1971, although at first it was only made on demand for friends and acquaintances.
In 1973 Vereker won a contract to supply Capital Radio, which was just starting up, with single cabinets containing the Naim amplifier and speaker drive units. That July, Naim Audio was incorporated; and in 1974 the company moved from a basement in Salisbury to a 16th-century shop in the city.
That same year, Vereker met Ivor Tiefenbrun, whose company, Linn Products, had been developing turntables. Together, they challenged the received wisdom at the time within the Industry, and proved by demonstration that indeed all products were not the same. The Linn turntable, partnered with Naim amplifiers, proved unbeatable, with sales greatly assisted by Vereker's and Tiefenbrun's confident pitch: "If you can't hear the difference," they would tell customers, "it's not worth talking to you".
In the 1990s and right up to his death, the Naim record label was Vereker's personal project, and he came up with improved techniques for CD mastering. The roster featured many of his friends from the music world[1] .
[edit] Other achievements
For some years Vereker was chairman of the British Federation of Audio.
He was appointed an MBE in 1995 for services to British export.
[edit] Interests and personal life
In addition to hifi, he enjoyed creative engineering in any form: cars, computers, boats, lighting systems.
Vereker was an enthusiast for bicycle design. He helped bankrolling Brompton Bicycle, a start-up company making folding bicycles. Also passionate about sailing, he was probably happiest when designing boats. The prototype of his latest venture, with a triangulated mast and a computer-controlled system of active water ballast, was launched on the day he died from cancer on 14 January 2000, aged 54.
Vereker was twice married, and had a son and a daughter.
[edit] References
- ^ A NAIM OF NOTE. Sound on Sound magazine (June 2001). Retrieved on [[15 August 2006]].
