Las Vegas is an appropriate place for Naim Audio, one of the UK’s largest and most successful specialist hi-fi manufacturers, to launch its extraordinary new ‘Statement’ -comprising the NAC S1 preamplifier and NAP S1 mono power amplifier.
Naim products have long-since been associated with dynamic performance, but the Statement combination looks to be in a different league altogether.
We doubt there’s a pair of loudspeakers currently being manufactured that wouldn’t appreciate the enormous 746 watts of power (one horsepower!) each NAP S1 mono power amp delivers into 8ohms. Equally, we’re far from certain a projected selling price of $200,000 will deter those customers who demand uncompromised performance.
Naturally, each and every aspect of the design and manufacturing process has been painstaking, from the spikes used to couple the products to the floor through the reimaging of the volume control technology to the huge 4000VA power transformer built from the finest grain orientated steel.
Each NAC S1 weighs in at 62kg, while the NAP S1 is a floorboard-bothering 101kg. And as you can see from the pictures and this video, the looks are just as purposeful as the engineering.
The ‘Statement’ goes on sale in July of this year.
WATCH: See the 'Statement' in action
MORE: CES 2014 - latest news and product highlights
by Simon Lucas