Our design brief for the NAP 500 required an amplifier that could drive any load down to 2 Ohms for prolonged periods, deliver over 100W into 8 Ohms and sound - at the very least - as good as our reference at the time, the NAP135.Naim has always understood the importance of reducing supply-induced intermodulation distortions and mains harmonic electrical noise from an amplifier, and has always used regulated supplies in its premier amplifiers. It was considered likely that improvements in these areas would yield further large gains in performance. Each channel of the NAP 500 includes ten stages of local regulation. To reduce interference from the mains supply further, the transformer and first stages of the power supply are in a separate enclosure (the same size as a Supercap), which provides twelve raw d.c. supplies for the power amplifier. Hence, the NAP 500 system consists of two boxes, a stereo amplifier and a separate power supply.The performance of the finished amplifier exceeds the design brief in all areas. Power output per channel is over 140W into 8 ohms and compared with the NAP 135, which in itself already provided exemplary measurements, the NAP 500 has five times the internal bandwidth, a quarter of the distortion and a one hundred times reduced operating noise floor.Needless to say, every aspect of the NAP 500's sound quality is truly exceptional.SpecificationsPower output continuous [8 Ohm] 140 WattsVoltage gain + 29 dBInput impedance 18 kOhmFrequency response -3dB @ 1.5Hz & 100kHzNAP 500 dimensions (H x W x D) 160 x 432 x 374mmPower supply dimensions (H x W x D) 87x 432 x 314mmFinish Black
