Naim and Bentley

The latest upmarket car marque/hifi marque alliance has been forged between posh car makers Bentley and respected audio company Naim. They sent us ‘world’s best’ press release below – which came via my hifi industry contacts. (I can be found all over the Home Cinema Choice magazine website, too&;)
Naim forms exclusive partnership with Bentley to deliver the world’s best in-car sound system.
After 18 months of research and development, the result is a world-beating audio system that remains true to both Bentley and Naim’s philosophy of no compromise in the search for quality. The ‘Naim for Bentley’ partnership will be announced on Bentley’s stand at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show, opening on March 4 2008. Naim will be taking part in the show with a special Naim Experience Room sited on the Bentley stand, where they will be demonstrating the full 500 Series system to Bentley’s VIP guests.
Bentley’s engineers initially contacted Naim around 18 months ago. They had identified similarities in philosophy of engineering: They found a common desire to produce the best performance, backed by solid engineering and science. The brief was to deliver the equal of the world’s finest home hi-fi within a car and hence create the world’s best in-car sound system. Naim’s engineers started with a thorough acoustic analysis of the available space in each car. They found that by clever use of crossover frequencies and drive unit design they could reduce the environmental sound leakage via the doors by 20dB.

Located throughout the car, 25mm HF units designed using the latest catenary-profiled domes for the optimum balance of rigidity and weight, reproduce high-frequencies, while unique 80mm midrange loudspeakers with 32mm voice coils operate in frequencies down to 450Hz. Larger 130mm bass-midrange loudspeakers and powerful twin 200mm subwoofers control the lower frequencies. Designing drive units specifically for purpose played a significant part in allowing the system to need little in the way of EQ tailoring and made optimising crossovers relatively simple. As most loudspeaker designers have found: the best designs come from good drive units integrated with uncomplicated crossovers and not poor drivers with everything ‘fixed in the crossover’.
Naim and Bentley engineers worked together to integrate the speakers within the cabin – in a manner that delivered the best performance but without reducing the visual perfection of the interior – as well as total integration into the communication systems within the car.
The Naim designed amplifier and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) unit delivers a class-leading 1,100W across a maximum of 15 channels, with full DSP control of crossover frequency and level, all in a compact size. Naim Audio amplifier designer Steve Sells explains the significance of the design: ‘Within this tiny area we need to incorporate some of the most densely-packed, high-tech components imaginable and still ensure the amplifier meets our strict performance targets. The level of engineering that goes into the amp’s internals is unique. Only by using a highly complex, double-sided, six-layer circuit board could we hit the size target. The amplifier meets full Bentley requirements for thermal management and has been tested in ambient temperatures ranging from -40 degrees Celsius up to 70 degrees Celsius. This is the first commercial use of this next generation DSP’.

Every electrical component used within the system is specified by Naim to meet the highest engineering tolerances. The Digital Signal Processor (DSP) offers users eight modes to enhance their listening experience. These range from Naim’s main ‘audiophile’ mode – the absolute reference setting for sound playback – through to other settings including driver-optimised, balanced, rear-optimised, digital media playback (via mp3, iPod and digital radio), spoken word, classic and enhanced.
The DSP performs, user selectable, dynamic equalisation that adjusts EQ, and volume for every DSP mode dependent on car speed. These also vary if the car is a convertible, detecting whether the roof is up or down.
Naim Audio Managing Director Paul Stephenson said: ‘At least 30 years of experience in manufacturing, high-end, high-fidelity products has earned Naim Audio an unparalleled, reputation for excellent sound reproduction, reliability and build quality. This exclusive relationship with Bentley has tested all of Naim’s technical engineering skills to reproduce a distinct live concert-like experience in the hostile environment of the car.’ ‘Every electrical component used within the system is specified by Naim to meet the highest engineering tolerances – at speeds of up to 200 miles an hour.’
Bentley Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen said: ‘Our customers expect the ultimate in every experience when they commission a Bentley.’ ‘The ‘Naim for Bentley’ sound system delivers the world’s ultimate in-car audio experience – allowing for an ‘as-live’ audio entertainment that is as pure as the Bentley driving experience itself.’