Julian Vereker

Hi
I was a teenager in the mid 70s (great time to be into music, well most of the time) and was at a friend’s house near Bath, I am guessing in 1975.
His dad, who owned a HiFi retail shop Video South, had Julian Vereker in his house demonstrating the then new Naim pre/power amplification (using his LP12 and Quad electrostatics). Needless to say my friend and I were pretty impressed with the sound. (I at the time being the proud owner of Pioneer PL12D, Rogers Panthera A75 green button and Celestion Ditton 44s).
Does anyone else remember meeting Julian and hearing very early Naim amplification?

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I met Julian at the Swiss Cottage Show in early 82 or 83 and we spent about 30 minutes talking about cars and John Coltrane. I too had a 12D at the time.

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Nice memory to have.

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Sometime in the 1980’s - guessing around ‘82’ to '85 - I attended a Naim Open Day. It was organised via Naim dealers. Julian was the host for day… :slightly_smiling_face:

I must have at least had by 42 & 110.

One of the dem records was Clannad’s Magical Ring. I had to buy it…

I still have the cardboard 250 or 160, in which the days handouts were presented.

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He was a Coltrane/ jazz fan? I wouldn’t be surprised since no HIFI I’ve heard make jazz swing like Naim do.

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That sounds like a nice collectors piece of cardboard there, not that I’m obsessive at all.

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It still keeps all my papers from that day, along with all my HiFi receipts, a few spare cable and my spare fuses, all under good control…

Here it is -

The cables are from Chord. A Sony ProWalkman 2 by 3,5mm jacks to Naim lead and a Naim to Phono lead from my Rega Ear headphone amp.

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I think I am actually jealous of a chap with a cardboard box. :grinning:

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It was worth keeping, then… :crazy_face:

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I love this box! :heart_eyes:

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Lol. Is this the next Naim retro piece to follow after the Nait 50?

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It’s just really witty unlike today’s all corporate Naim.

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I found a text file that claims to be a collection of all posts Julian Vereker posted on naim forum.

http://www.acoustica.org.uk/misc/JV.TXT

Quote Julian

This is one you will have to try for yourself - it is like the 135 passive v 250 active debate only more so. The only comment I have, is that in the factory, one can tell if a 500 is being used in a room without even opening the door.*

julian

The NAP500 seems to be much more like a pre-amp, it takes ages to warm up - not at all like 250s or 135s.

julian

Date: September 22, 1999 05:55 PM
Author: julian vereker
Subject: 52

It is possible that at some stage in the future we may put the 52 into
a case similar to the NAP500PS, no decision has been taken.

Date: January 01, 2000 10:01 AM
Author: julian vereker
Subject: size matters

The problem of mechanical transformer noise is caused by odd harmonics
being present on the mains supply and tend cause more noise on larger
transformers.

The early 250 (pre 1984) had a smaller transformer than the later one
which is the same as the 135.

I keep my all my power supplies and NAP500s in a cupboard in the hall.

julian

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I dont think its all his post but certainly a great resource, even today, and some facinating content.

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I’ve had lunch with Julian at the factory many years ago. He was keen to hear a couple of things I’d shown to Paul Messenger. None of them were easily manufacturable but they did seem to work well. I’d discovered them in my younger days when I was a bit more curious and inquisitive. I’d often play around with my system trying various ideas out. 95% of the time it was a waste of time but occasionally you’d discover something that seemed to work really well that might have some sort of application in the future.

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Its a CB NAP, but there is no part no or serial number… :slightly_smiling_face:

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Zen like in its simplicity. Just perfect.

G

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I had the opportunity to go to the Salisbury factory with a small group of science and engineering graduate students who were interested in audio. To the best of my recollection this was probably 1984 and they demonstrated the prototype of the first Naim speaker along with the usual Linn Saras and Kans. It was a wonderful day. Julian and his staff sat with us the whole afternoon and when we were done Julian took us to a local pub and bought us all drinks. I don’t think any of us could afford anything but the most basic Naim setup at the time but Julian and his staff were very generous. That’s one reason I have stuck with Naim over the past 40 years or so. Two of the students that attended with went on to form Roksan after they graduated. One of them had a tiny bedsit just enough room for a mattress and a pair of Isobariks and you actually had o sit on the bed to listen to them!.

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Wonderful, just love that and look where it all led, a more diversified hifi industry.

Here is the Box NAP’s back panel -

Ah… its a 250 - look at the XLR input… :slightly_smiling_face:

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