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.
Ok - the third week of run-in is very strange. Too many things are changing to know where it will end-up, but a couple of things:
Low Bass
The Bass performance is getting scary - I mean actual fear! 
I was playing a few CDs I know well and there are beginning to appear dynamics in the low-bass that change the whole character of some songs - at moments I thought my system was about to blow-up, as the sheer dynamic range suddenly appearing where it was not there before had effect on me.
Example: Madonna 'Like a Virgin' Album, nothing particularly special about the album, but I like the enthusiastic way she sang at that stage of her career - but to the point: At the end of the title track there are several bass lines that walk across each other - now they cause a low frequency beat note that is very loud!
Another example: another Madonna Album 'True Blue' has its version of 'Live to Tell' on it. It was playing very emphatically - at the end again there are some low synth notes that were scary - I think it was meant to be there, but it never had that effect before. I don't mean intellectual 'fear' along the lines of 'there is some low bass', but straight to the fear, bypassing intellect which had to struggle to get back into its seat afterwards to make sense of it.
High Frequencies
These had been deliciously smooth and detailed and had a 'body' to them I really like - but they are varying now into ragged and harsh, which I'm hoping is the run-in process.
Normally when I hear HF sound like that it was time to get a box re-capped and serviced!
Since Graham now claims to have weathered this phase in his run-in and to be now enjoying exotic musical pleasures, I await my turn - I hope. 
DB.
Actually guys (Graham/DB) you haven’t heard anything yet, whilst our Statement NAP-S1 power amps burnt in very promptly (around 2 weeks), hardly surprising given the high levels of current passing through them, the Statement S1 Preamp seemed to engage “after burners” and soar into stratospheric realms at 5 months.
At 5 – 6 weeks the Statement S1 Preamp was exhibiting a very clean pair of heels to the NAC-552/NAPS-552DR, at 5 months the sudden lift in performance was utterly gob-smacking, getting still better with every passing day.
Next week I am looking forward to a home demo with the Statement S1 Preamp into a monster pair of on-board Active loudspeakers, a true test of the balanced outputs in this scenario.
Gary the “wobble period” is relatively short lived and once you are through that it just keeps getting better, but brace yourself for the 5 month lift.
Warmest regards
Norman
Partner - UHES
You should offer 6 month run in S1 preamps at a 10% increase over retail price 
You should offer 6 month run in S1 preamps at a 10% increase over retail price
And this service should include conjugal visits! 
Thanks DB. its good to have the space to spread your equipment!!
so i take it that the amps are in the corner rack with snaxo on top? and the 500ps's next to that, and the snaxo supercap
then a tall box which i cant tell what it is 
then the 555PSs, i guess -- then a bit of a turntable wall support. i wonder what vinyl would sound like in this fab system of yours!!
enjoy
ken
Indeed: Supercap on top, with the two bass 500PS on bottom pair of shelves and BMR 500PS directly under the Supercap near top. Sounded better like that, especially for seamless bass extension - what I have playing now.
The TT has never yet been played through Statement system!
With the previous 552-based system I always greatly preferred the 555 and never really felt the TT could compete. It is there out of previous emotional attachment more than anything at present - perhaps I'll try it sometime.
All sounding very pleasing right now.
The speaker cables will at some point disappear as I'll rout them under the room in my cellar.
Plug-in sequence was important for me - on the block it is, from the mains feed-in end:
blank, Statement, 555PS (Analogue), blank, blank, 555PS (Dig).
Putting the Statement at the feed-in end was truly horrible!
All other stuff is at the wall with the Snaxo Supercap PS sharing the same double-socket as the powerline feed to the block with the Statement and sources.
All noisier power Amp plugs are directly into the wall sockets either side of the double-socket feeding the snaxo/sources (BMR Amp one side and Bass Amps the other).
DB.
DB, looking at your plane walls around and behind the speakers I can't resist picturing a ringing noise at your sitting position.
Tell me they are fairly damped, and not just a plaster over the bricks ...
They are smooth walls 'plaster over the bricks' indeed!
There is no ringing, the room is an odd 'L' shape with tall ceilings with in-built natural critical-damping.
I have furniture carefully placed in locations to the side and behind the listening position to break-up reflection. I used to have wallpaper but removed it as I found a clean linear reflection sounded better. I found with the first reflection coming from a non-linear reflecting surface it was muddled, so arranged the first reflections to be clean and the later ones to incur damping and encounter traps.
I also have a large adjoining room behind the listening room with a linking door that I open which gives me better bass extension and removes a slight node effect. You can tune your room.
I prefer a slightly lively direct sound so it suits my requirement. Image is fantastic with good depth, width and height and room nodes are not intrusive. It has been said it is a 'magic room' but that may be over-stating it. It is an old house and the walls behind the speakers are actually slightly convex into the room may also help.
DB.
Well said Bert. This is what i love about the forum. Everyone so kind and thoughtful to all things Naim
I guess I could help out when you go on holiday Bert!!!
DB, looking at your plane walls around and behind the speakers I can't resist picturing a ringing noise at your sitting position.
Tell me they are fairly damped, and not just a plaster over the bricks ...
They are smooth walls 'plaster over the bricks' indeed!
There is no ringing, the room is an odd 'L' shape with tall ceilings with in-built natural critical-damping.
I have furniture carefully placed in locations to the side and behind the listening position to break-up reflection. I used to have wallpaper but removed it as I found a clean linear reflection sounded better. I found with the first reflection coming from a non-linear reflecting surface it was muddled, so arranged the first reflections to be clean and the later ones to incur damping and encounter traps.
I see now -- the above photo was not complete and I did not realise you have diffusion elements behind the sitting position.
I do prefer diffusion over wall damping -- the sound is livelier and more open. I also have diffusion elements around the speakers as well. I put some curved surfaces to the left and to the right and in between the speakers, and I put wooden models on the stands in between the speakers and a central subwoofer (whose only duty is to add 1.5 kWt energy below 30 Hz where room does not have any modes).
These elements smoothed down and cleaned the sound substantially and allow listening at higher volumes with a more prominent bass.
It is probably not the best place to talk about this -- but being a happy owner of Linn KDS I tried its built-in digital Room Optimisation facility to defeat the room modes below 80 Hz and it worked amazingly well in my room. It works like a room treatment in high frequencies -- removes the energy delay, increases the openness, resolution and transparency and allows listening at higher volumes.
I wish Naim will come up with the similar feature in NDS or future streamer.
...come on chaps, who's up for a Statement sharing club? I reckon a one month sharing schedule would work, just got to find a few more interested parties - just about warmed up and then time to go. That way we can all share the break-in period 
Run-in now seems to be past most wobbles in performance. I'm into the 4th week now and it continues to gradually improve, possibly daily now.
The final tuning of the rest of the system has been underway. I've settled (at least for now) on the Fraim configuration shown in the above posts. What I did today was to re-torque the final standard Fraim upright under the Supercap supply feeding the Snaxo, as I was getting a lot of variability from small changes there.
I slightly loosened the torque on the rear upright and lost a tendency to a bit of glare in the sound I wasn't liking. I also found that the rear Fraim cup under the level spike had a large 'ding' hole that was grabbing the spike - moving it from that to sit it on a level metal surface did wonders, so that is how it now is. I'll probably get a replacement Fraim cup at some point.
All these things impacted the way the sound weaves together as the notes are struck and decay. Things like very fine piano touches I'd not heard before now are there and contribute to the Artists intent. Vocals are more delicate and small inflections in the voice better portrayed.
All these things were going on when I had the 552, but Statement makes these far clearer to hear and paradoxically, easier to tune-up the system to get right.
So very happy with present performance.
It does Heavy Metal Operatic Goth-Rock stupidly well with power and grip never heard before - then switching to subtle ballads with piano and acoustic instruments have presence and grace.
DB.
“The TT has never yet been played through Statement system!
With the previous 552-based system I always greatly preferred the 555 and never really felt the TT could compete. It is there out of previous emotional attachment more than anything at present - perhaps I'll try it sometime.”
Thanks DB for your honesty, I felt the same way about My LP12, Which I purchased in 1986 for about $1400, sold it last year for $1550, and started pursuing the Naim Dream. BTW that’s USD, I’m across the pond, but tune in to you guys all the time. Picking up good points such as, spacing, racks, and good old honesty. Headed towards active with help from you thanks for tuning in to my Briks post earlier this year. Next piece SC and Snaxo, next year, right now Bi amping Briks! Keep up the good work!
I used to run Active Briks.
DB.
I... Perhaps your newly installed S1 has revealed some of Madonna's obsessiveness.
I obviously go for obsessiveness!
DB.
I... Perhaps your newly installed S1 has revealed some of Madonna's obsessiveness.
I obviously go for obsessiveness!
DB.
Yes, I think we knew that DB