Statement has landed
Posted by: Graham Clarke on 09 May 2015
So after three long months of waiting, my Statement preamp finally arrived yesterday. I managed to do pretty well in being patient until we got down to around the last ten days… This was the starting point:
Since my Statement home demo via UHES in January I’ve changed my two main interconnects to Super Lumina ones and have swapped out NAC A5 for Super Lumina, at a somewhat excessive cost, but with brilliant results.
To answer a previous question asked on the Forum regarding how these speaker cables are tuned, it is down to the resistor used. The resistor is soldered across the positive and negative cables and then surrounded in the metal box to protect it. This provides the correct inductance that the power amps require. The tuning is the value of the resistor and the type of resistor used (e.g. RS Components, Farnell etc). Required values were determined for specific lengths via listening and then other lengths were calculated via a computer program.
Anyway, onto the day. The plan was to check the torque settings on the S-600 speakers’ drive unit screws, break down, clean, tighten and reconfigure the Fraim racks, install the six Super Lumina DIN-XLR cables and oh, just add the Statement S-1 pre-amp to the mix, replacing the 552…
To complete this task we had four people. Ian and Norman from UHES of course, plus Jason Gould and Mark Raggett directly from Naim. It’s always enjoyable spending time with Ian and Norman but also getting to spend around four hours with Jason and Mark was the icing on the cake.
Ian first checked the speaker torque settings, which turned out to be fine since their last check nearly two years ago. Given I purchased these as ex-demo speakers from UHES it’s probably no surprise that they had already bedded in and didn’t need further adjustment.
I wish I could say the same about the Fraim racks. These were new a year ago and Ian had told me that I should check the tightness of the spikes after a few months because there is a degree of compression and expansion of the wood from new which will loosen them. Having assumed that they would just be slightly loose combined with a degree of laziness and a manic work schedule I’m afraid I hadn’t bothered. Well, when we broke down the power supply Fraim rack and lifted the base off the carpet, one of the spikes remained embedded in the concrete floor, to my embarrassment! So YES, you really DO need to check these with newly built Fraim racks.
During this time break down time, Jason and Mark had man handled the S-1 flight case out of Mark’s car. At least for the UK, these are delivered direct from the factory to the customer. “Man handled” is the correct term given the 102Kg shipping weight but this was slightly easier than in January as the case now has detachable wheels. Direct delivery is done to ensure that the unit turns up in 100% perfect condition both cosmetically and functionally. This was of course not a problem with mine.
While they were busy doing this, I kept myself busy by taking a look at the long awaited DIN-XLR cables.
Anyone familiar with Powerlines or Hi-Lines will recognise the packaging.
As you can see, both ends use the Air-PLUG technology that the other Super Lumina cables use via a set of interconnecting metal rings. The XLR canons are also metal, unlike the original ones.
Jumping forward slightly, the only glitch of the day was that when installing these cables into my Snaxo BMR, the far end of the Air-PLUG connectors on the top cable touch the one beneath. When the system has bedded in I’ll have to see whether this actually makes an audible difference.
There was another box which was unexpected, this turned out to be the Statement accessory kit, the finish of which was beautiful.
There were three layers to this box with the top containing the manual and a spirit level.
The second layer in mine was empty given I had not purchased the Statement power amps. Apparently I am the first person world wide that Naim have supplied with just the pre-amp, all other purchasers have gone for the complete system.
In the bottom layer of the box were a number of tools
Including some Statement Fraim chips (different from standard ones) and the remote control which is in the bag on the right. This is constructed of metal and is similar in weight and feel to the NARCOM remote.
Given the NARCOM remote is £300, I dread to think how much a replacement one of these would be. I better not lose it down the back of the sofa.
After completing the first Fraim rack, Jason and Mark unpacked the pre-amp.
Given the size, weight and space constraints this does need to be planned! With the protective cover removed it finally appeared for the first time.
Even unpackaged this weighs 60Kg so moving into position isn’t an easy task. This is what it looks like inside to help explain (no, this isn't mine!)
That's a lot of components!
Happily (for me) I left the task of moving to Mark.
No pressure there Mark, I’m sure you loved me taking pictures of you while you were doing this!
We agree not to put it flush up to the racks so that it could be easily cleaned. Getting the position right, ensuring it was absolutely level and parallel with the left hand rack easily took 30 minutes such was the perfectionist nature of Ian and Mark.
Installing the second Fraim was relatively straightforward after this, poor Ian was left to do this while everyone else chatted and watched on. Jason commented that normally with home installs they get involved directly but knew that they could leave this to Ian given his expertise. High praise indeed for UHES.
One added bonus of moving to two racks and separating them slightly is that cable dressing is now much better, with no Burndys touching the wall and all but a few cables off the floor.
Finally, after over four hours of work, everything was set up and listening was about to begin!
By now it was about 6:30PM and we had a dinner reservation for 7:30 as we were all hungry, so we only had limited listening time. I wasn’t too worried about this because the pre-amp is brand new and stone cold, the DIN-XLRs are also new and the rest of the system would have cooled down, so my expectations weren’t too high.
From the first track there was a slight degree of harshness around the sound. This was consistent with the from cold demo in January. High frequencies were also a little tight and I’d say that the pre-amp and system in generally was probably only at around 50% of its full potential. Despite that, some of the greatness from the January demo was already apparent: the super low noise floor (if it was any lower it would be sucking noise out of the room) along with the incredible detail and separation of every instrument being played.
Unfortunately Saturday obligations mean I won’t get to listen further until later in the afternoon, but both main sources have been left active playing into the system and with further warm up I’m expecting a big jump. So you’ll have to wait a while longer for the clichés and superlatives.
More to follow and thanks for reading if you got this far.
By the way Graham, should you wish to make any reference to the 552, please would you NOT use the word br.....bro.......BROKEN! 
Thanks Peter
Peter,
We've already discussed this. Your 552 is totally broken now, it's worthless, just chuck it in a skip and move on! 
By the way Graham, should you wish to make any reference to the 552, please would you NOT use the word br.....bro.......BROKEN! Thanks Peter
Yes - yes indeed. Slightly better would be good.
DB.
At nearly 3x the list price of a 552 I'm hoping for a bit more than slightly better!
Yes - yes - I know you have to say that, but it is not what you mean. 
The HiFi is a home-improvement. The home is just a container for the HiFi after all...
DB.
Useful. I'll try that on Deb to see how it works... You can back me up next time we meet!
Excellent report Graham and the set up looks absolutely fab!
(
thinking aloud ON:
so, i could move the superline's supercap to the middle rack, have the superline share a shelf with the NAT01 headunit, install a new shelf in the middle rack and install the NAT01 PS and Geddon there... the only remaining box, Unitiserve/SSD doesnt really need to be on a Fraim rack... so i make room with 1 less fraim rack. A certain single tall box might just fit, then...
Hmmm...
thinking aloud OFF:
)
you can see, this sort of thread, like other similar ones on this forum, is very dangerous reading for "vulnerable" types, such as myself.
enjoy...
ken
Yeah, totally. And don't forget the Super Lumina speaker cable as a side order to your NAC S-1!
[Statement pre has ] surprisingly deep bass extension, which I never really thought was partially controlled via a preamp (always assumed this was a function of the power amp and speakers).
Schoolboy error! 
Enjoy your music on your wonderful system, Graham.
Best,
Chris
27 hours.
That's how long it took for S-1 pre to thoroughly trounce my old 552, which I'm lead to believe was a good example of the species.
So last night myself and wife first sat down to watch the F1 qualifying. We're fans and watch all the races. Within 30 seconds of turning the TV on I could already hear that it sounded quite different. Of course currently The Voice isn't currently airing for the full demo effect (some of you will likely understand that...).
After the qualy which will hopefully lead to an interesting race we fired up the NDS and started listening to tracks. We both took it in turns choosing a track (Ken, you'll remember that!). We're both into contemporary rock/pop but our tastes aren't the same.
First sign on how S-1 has 552 beaten? We couldn't stop listening to music which is a little rarer for my wife.
Second sign was that despite our different tastes, I loved what I was hearing when it was Deb's choice. Surely that has got to be one of the best indications of a good system?
Third sign was the volume level. I don't play music particularly loudly as I find above a certain point it starts to sound muddled (in room reflections maybe?) and can become harsh. Deb is often asking me to turn it down. With Statement we were playing a fair bit louder than normal with absolutely no hint of harshness, so clearly distortion levels are very very low. Deb didn't ask me to turn it down either, or maybe I just didn't hear her
Fourth sign, the treble has now opened up and there's an accuracy but also delicacy that wasn't present with the 552. For instance, listening to a 24/96 recording of Roxanne by The Police showed exactly how the cymbals were being hit; both where on the cymbal and how hard the drumstick was hitting it.
Fifth sign, the detail is merciless. There's a track on the Radio One 2014 Live Lounge CD where you can hear a very slight background hum via S-1 that you are completely oblivious to on the 552. This CD is actually well recorded with a decent dynamic range, I think the sound engineer just thought that given the MP3 "listening experience" no one would ever hear this and has now been caught out! Now apply that detailed accuracy to every instrument.
Sixth sign, the bass is amazing! In no way boomy (I hate that) it has gained a fuller body and goes significantly lower than before. As earlier mentioned, this really surprised me because I didn't realize a pre-amp could affect that so dramatically. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised about anything Statement can do.
Seventh sign, the speakers seem to have disappeared! The sound stage is so enormous and the bandwidth so huge that it's just a wall of sound (no, we've not been listening to Phil Spector recordings).
So, 552 vs Statement pre-amp? It's an easy game, set and match to Statement.
Of course two days is a blink of the eye in regards to burn in time for a Naim pre-amp, so I am left wondering what else is in store. Going to be fun finding out.
"...The second layer in mine was empty given I had not purchased the Statement power amps. Apparently I am the first person world wide that Naim have supplied with just the pre-amp, all other purchasers have gone for the complete system...."
this is interesting! i had assumed you were the 1st to purchase any Statement product, period -- at least in the UK. now its fascinating to hear that they have already been some purchases not only of the NAC S1, but the full works, i.e. NAP S1's as well !!! Musical nirvana or what...?
enjoy...
ken
From what Jason said, I think they have delivered 2 full systems to dealers in the UK (UHES being one of course) and two complete systems to UK customers. Of course I only have 1/3 of a system
27 hours.
That's how long it took for S-1 pre to thoroughly trounce my old 552, which I'm lead to believe was a good example of the species.
So last night myself and wife first sat down to watch the F1 qualifying. We're fans and watch all the races. Within 30 seconds of turning the TV on I could already hear that it sounded quite different. Of course currently The Voice isn't currently airing for the full demo effect (some of you will likely understand that...).
After the qualy which will hopefully lead to an interesting race we fired up the NDS and started listening to tracks. We both took it in turns choosing a track (Ken, you'll remember that!). We're both into contemporary rock/pop but our tastes aren't the same.
First sign on how S-1 has 552 beaten? We couldn't stop listening to music which is a little rarer for my wife.
Second sign was that despite our different tastes, I loved what I was hearing when it was Deb's choice. Surely that has got to be one of the best indications of a good system?
Third sign was the volume level. I don't play music particularly loudly as I find above a certain point it starts to sound muddled (in room reflections maybe?) and can become harsh. Deb is often asking me to turn it down. With Statement we were playing a fair bit louder than normal with absolutely no hint of harshness, so clearly distortion levels are very very low. Deb didn't ask me to turn it down either, or maybe I just didn't hear her
Fourth sign, the treble has now opened up and there's an accuracy but also delicacy that wasn't present with the 552. For instance, listening to a 24/96 recording of Roxanne by The Police showed exactly how the cymbals were being hit; both where on the cymbal and how hard the drumstick was hitting it.
Fifth sign, the detail is merciless. There's a track on the Radio One 2014 Live Lounge CD where you can hear a very slight background hum via S-1 that you are completely oblivious to on the 552. This CD is actually well recorded with a decent dynamic range, I think the sound engineer just thought that given the MP3 "listening experience" no one would ever hear this and has now been caught out! Now apply that detailed accuracy to every instrument.
Sixth sign, the bass is amazing! In no way boomy (I hate that) it has gained a fuller body and goes significantly lower than before. As earlier mentioned, this really surprised me because I didn't realize a pre-amp could affect that so dramatically. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised about anything Statement can do.
Seventh sign, the speakers seem to have disappeared! The sound stage is so enormous and the bandwidth so huge that it's just a wall of sound (no, we've not been listening to Phil Spector recordings).
So, 552 vs Statement pre-amp? It's an easy game, set and match to Statement.
Of course two days is a blink of the eye in regards to burn in time for a Naim pre-amp, so I am left wondering what else is in store. Going to be fun finding out.
Thanks a fine description of your hearing experience. I am just again wondering as you as anybody else for significant upgrades is talking about how the old component sound s mediocre in comparison. That poses the question as to how much still is possible.
Good to know that the run-in before it leaves the 552 behind is only a day or so.
Interesting what you say about the bass performance and noise-floor. The only demo I had was at a show with Focal speakers and they did allow me to recognise something was special in those areas, but I didn't get on with the higher frequency range which was a bit hard for my taste.
It was easy to put the bass performance down to the Power Amps, but from what you said it appears that the Pre has a lot to contribute there as well. Obviously it is not the main thing, but I have found that something that does not struggle with low frequencies or overly colour them draws me into the music better.
Continue to keep us appraised of the run-in journey - and congratulations of a decision made!
DB.
Great continous write up Graham and you can actually become accustomed to going LALALA in a funny sort of warped way! Enjoy the ride Peter