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Money is no object
We love to give practical buying advice on the latest gadgets here at TechRadar. But sometimes what we like more is to indulge in the most ridiculous, high-end, cutting-edge, luxury technology on the planet. That’s what we bring you in these Money No Object columns – you can read the whole series here .
Sometimes even paradise isn’t perfect. Picture the scene: You’re watching a movie on your $3,500 Nakamichi Dragon Dolby Atmos soundbar with its fourteen speakers and 3,000 watts of amplification. Sure, it’s loud. But where are the cataclysmic thumps of thundering subsonic energy? Where are the tidal waves of bass energy? What do you do when 3,000 watts just isn’t enough?
Nakamichi has thought of that and wants you to step into the Dragon once again – this time by equipping it with not one, not two, but four 12-inch subwoofers to deliver a total of 5,000W of earth-shaking audio that will make your local movie theater jealous.
Nakamichi Dragon: What is it?
The Nakamichi Dragon is one of the most widely used audio devices around, notably a legendary cassette recorder launched in 1982, a turntable from 1983 and more recently a powerful competitor to the world’s best soundbars, with 11 surround channels, six upfiring channels and four bass channels. But that was with four measly 8-inch subwoofers. Now there’s a new addition to the range, which lets you add four 12-inch subwoofers instead, capable of delivering frequencies down to 19Hz with up to 750W of power each.
Nakamichi Dragon: What Makes It Special?
The drivers here are 12-inches of aerospace-grade aluminum, backed by a wafer-thin layer of carbon fiber. Together, the aluminum and carbon fiber promise to deliver quick response times and powerfully driven bass without also introducing unwanted resonances that would muddy the lows. Nakamichi says it reproduces low-frequency effects “with authority, just like your local Dolby Atmos theater.”
In addition to the driver, there’s a long-throw 12-inch passive radiator with a carbon-infused cone that pushes the bass down, sending bass waves throughout the entire viewing and listening space. With the full complement of subs, that’s likely to be quite an experience.
Nakamichi Dragon: Is It Worth It?
If you don’t already own a Dragon soundbar, the flagship configuration here consists of the main soundbar, two Omni-Motion Reference Surrounds and four subwoofers that together put out 5,000W of power for $8,499.
If that power and price seem a bit extreme to you, there’s also a dual-subwoofer version that still puts out an impressive 3,500W for $5,599.99.
And there’s also a two-sub option with 8-inch subs instead of 12-inch. That one puts out 3,000W and costs $3,999.
But of course, power and price don’t tell the whole story. And what about the sound? The Dragon soundbar is, ahem, divisive on Reddit audio groups where it can get louder than any amplifier before it. And our colleagues over at What Hi-Fi awarded it three out of five stars for its “loud, aggressive” sound and “big, shouty character”.
Whether or not this is worth the price is really up to you, but it’s safe to say that this system is designed to fill a larger home theater space in a way that most soundbars can only dream of. The point of four subwoofers isn’t just power, but an even dispersion of bass that leaves no part of the room behind, and what some might call loud, others might call wide and far-reaching. Subtle? Nope. But you didn’t come to an article about a four-subwoofer system for subtlety, right?
The more practical among us who still want something with incredible surround effects, but that is realistic for most households, should take a look at the Samsung HW-Q990D.
