S1/S2; first opportunity to hear this in a domestic environment

I can't believe your generosity, Nick.  I mention on our blog the irony of having these Über amps arrive just as we are about to lend out both our dem sets of SL speaker cables plus a third borrowed from Naim so that a customer can try all of them in a fully actively fed Ovator 800 system and the next thing you were proffering yours on the basis that you won't need them for a couple of days! 

Many thanks, even if I am wrestling with some guilt!

I tend to avoid posting on here but in this instance thanks are due and the enthusiasm I'm feeling for these ginormous black extrusions need sharing.  Swapping from the NAP 500 DR to the S1power amp in an otherwise identical system has been a revelation. It was the same with 'just' the preamp last year. We knew from public demonstrations that it would be terrific but hearing these items on your own terms gives a completely different perspective.

Steve Sells and the team at Naim have achieved something genuinely remarkable. 'Magical' is an overworked term but I cannot think of a better one. 

All that plus the best customers on the planet, what more can we ask for?!

Alastair

How about a new Aro ? 

Damn. I feel a visit to Signals might be in order. Only for the coffee you understand.

I really didn't want to read that Alastair! However I look forward to having a listen when we are down your way!

You just beat me to it Tony!!

Just looked at the Signals website and appreciate the  guide to Naim equipment which is bit of a puzzling minefield to the uninitiated. If Signals wasn't on the wrong side of the country I'd be heading down there too, not for the Statement but some common sense advice. 

 Tim 

I'll give some common sense advice :  This bloody amp is going to cost a fortune in coffee

But think of the huge profit if you sell one! It's got to be worth it.

Signals UK posted:

I'll give some common sense advice :  This bloody amp is going to cost a fortune in coffee

 

You only have to ask! My rates are very reasonable; half an hour's worth of listening per 220gms.

tonym posted:

Damn. I feel a visit to Signals might be in order. Only for the coffee you understand.

Michael posted:

You just beat me to it Tony!!

Just do it.

I received an email from Nick with regard to this matter, entitled 'Be Very Afraid'.

It's probably a good thing that I don't live too close to my favourite purveyor of audio delights.

John.

Looking forward to the Signals show the Autumn!!

I just popped out for some bread earlier & somehow found myself outside Signals (bloody sat navs...) so I thought I'd better just pop in, it'd be rude not to. Nice coffee Nick!

Yes. I've come straight home & bought a lottery ticket.

That's funny. My satnav has a very similar problem. 

Ipswich; it's just sooooo close.....

From someone who knows Alastair and Andy will take (almost) as much care if you're buying a £100 USB cable, as a S1, I hope that they have success (i.e sales) from what is a big investment. 

Moving from a 500 series dealer to a full Statement must  necessitate  a full intake of breath not to mention the increasing coffee bill from the sound of things. 

I wish them every success with this exciting addition.

SJB

And so it was my turn to admit defeat and venture forth to my dealer 'Signals' to check out the Statement pre/power amps. I needed an excuse to thank Andy for wrestling my LP12 into the best state of tune it (and I) has ever enjoyed.

The monolithic black beauties were very neatly arrayed in the corner of the room. 'Almost discreet' I thought. It was also an opportunity for me to hear Kudos Titan 808's at Signals for the first time. It seems to be an annoyingly (price wise) very happy marriage. Several known tunes were played and feet duly tapped. 

I didn't really know what to expect but the 'Wow!' factor wasn't it. 'Statement' does that DR-type 'less is more' thing in spades. The music flows effortlessly with phenomenal clarity and lack of clutter. There is a sense of utterly unconstrained dynamic swing and latent power, resulting in a superb sense of ease. The sound is beguiling and musically involving at moderate and higher volume levels.

As with the DR upgraded amps, there is even more of a sense of a fog being removed from around vocals. Phil Collins sounded younger on 'Face Value' - possibly because he was younger then, but you know what I mean. Terrific clarity with processing effects and background vocals rendered like I have never heard them before. The top end sparkles with life and presence; the mid-band is transparent and beguiling and there is an iron grip on the bottom end.

Upon arrival back home, I played some of the same tracks on my 500 series system, trying to convince myself that it sounded nearly as good. It did not - so now I have to work on losing that 'Statement' audio-memory.

My thanks to Andy and Alastair for the opportunity to enjoy this magnificent amplifier for a few hours, and to Naim for developing it.

John.

I heard S1/S2/NDS/2x555PS into Magico Q7 at my local dealer last year.  It changed my understanding of what hi fi could be. 

Damn....

Signals UK posted:

 All that plus the best customers on the planet, what more can we ask for?!

 Alastair

 

It makes me, then, rather jolly to be able to think that I have been one of them in several occasions...

Best

Max

I did not want to read this.... damn.

Thanks for the excellent write-up John. We need to engage you for our yearbook effort!

Thanks too for the kindly fuzzy / warm comments, much appreciated. There is a very genuine sense of community in this business and, with the vast majority of customers (including Massimo) being thoroughly nice people, it’s great to engage with it.

As Sloop JB says, it is a huge investment. In truth, for a business of our size, it probably sits outside conventional retail logic. It could just be a case of very expensive attention seeking.

The trouble is that from the first three excepts heard at the Bristol show three? years ago, it was evident that the S1 pairing was something very special. Living with the preamp for the thick end of a year brought an overwhelming desire to finish the job. 

Far from the ‘flash rich git’s’ product that we were fearing when we first got wind of a Naim super amp, this is arguably Naim’s most subtle and understated product. We can even loose it in the corner of a fairly modest room, so even the visuals are well judged.

As JN says, it’s not really a ‘wow’ product. Here we have it in a numerically unbalanced system with source components and transducers both being far cheaper than the amplifier. This isn’t a plea to buy more expensive ancillaries, by the way, the piggy bank is now empty.

The sound we are hearing, though, really is ‘up there’. It keeps giving me the feeling I got the first time I heard a pal’s hi-fi system that really moved the game forward (in our modest terms) around forty years ago. 

The S1’s ability, here, is to enable the other components to deliver to their very best. And that turns out to be better than expected. Oh and, yes, we have played the 1812. Just not at full tilt. With great power comes great responsibility. Still makes you jump though. 

Must go. Some folks on camels just arriving. What do you actually do with this Myrrh and Frankincense stuff?

Alastair

Signals UK posted:

The S1’s ability, here, is to enable the other components to deliver to their very best. And that turns out to be better than expected. Oh and, yes, we have played the 1812. Just not at full tilt. With great power comes great responsibility. Still makes you jump though. 

Now Alastair that was a brave thing to do 

I've sold / pledged all my organs already... Still not enough for the Statement...

Where is that lottery booth again?

I'm still interested to see how other speaker manufacturers step up here.   The latest Titans are obviously an option as are the huge Focals but I was wondering about those giant PMCs?