Rupert Neve is a consultant. He started making small tube consoles in England. He was friends with engineers and recording companies/labels there. He built only custom consoles for specific needs.
When a friend introduced him to transisters, he knew little, and didn't want to know much, as they sounded like crap. But this was the new trend, so he built a few custom consoles with them.
He was building them in a small outbuilding, with just a few people. It was later that he met up with a shiester who convinced Rupert that he need someone to handle the business, so that Rupert could be free to design. This appealled to Rupert, because he would bid console's without knowing how much they would actually cost, and then support them for free.
The business guy ran up the debt, and Rupert got into trouble. Finally he had to sell out to someone else, so the company was Neve in name only. The last consoles that Rupert claims are the ones from the 8078 and 8088 periods.
Neve was then purchased by Seimens, and consoles like the V-series came out. The V is short for Vatican console, as the designer was named Pope. There was nothing Neve about this series or anything after it.
Neve went onto start Focusrite. He built two complete consoles. There are parts for others around. The co-founder of Soundcraft now owns the "inventory", not the intellectual property. None of the modules have the exact circuitry as the console. There is a lot of marketing hype with that line.
Neve also consulted with Summit, and then most recently with Amek on console and outboard lines. I have a friend with a 9098i. It is the best console that Rupert has ever designed/built. It has tons of headroom and sounds incredible. If you want one, now is the time to get one. Amek has lost the people that paved the way for the console, helped with the R&D, manufacturing, etc.
The first 9098's had a cooling issue, and the automation was crap. They have just recently completed the final touches on that. The 9098i has had no problems that I know of. Except that Amek is not actively pushing that console, due to the loss of key personnel, and the fact that the market is soft. Few people can care to offord the best of mixing consoles now.
The Neve 88R by AMS/Neve is not a Neve designed console. It is their response to the Amek 88R. I have not heard it, but I can only imagine that it is great. I have been told that it is by some golden ears. I imagine that it is supported well.
The small faders are switchable. It is an in-line console, so it is used for channel or tape return volume.
The Libra. I have used this console and it is a completely different monster. It is an AMS product. It used to have issues. I was mixing a band on a CBS show, and I needed add a reverb. A stereo return had to be configured. The problem is that when you make a channel assignment, it kills the audio completely for about 5 seconds while it does it. So, it is not a smart purchase for the person that must add channels/change configuration on the fly while passing audio to a video truck or satelite uplink.
If you want a killer sounding Neve board, and don't have allot of cash, check out the AMEK 51. It does not have the same pots, faders, and heavy-duty contruction as the 9098i, but does have some of the same topologies that make the 9098i sound great. If you want a vintage Neve 8068, I have one to sell ya'.
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anyone wanna loan me $250k 
