Hi delft
Been out of touch somewhat lately. I assume you got your dbls back together meanwhile. Hope you are satisfied with the result. No further news on my end here, except playing around a bit with some of the ineffable cables.
Taking the mids to skanspeak eventually is still on my agenda, just donât know when âŚ
Playing around with more modern drivers in dbl cabinets might be interesting yet a completely different endeavour that probably would need a second pair to fool around with 
Itâll be interesting to see what Skanspeak suggest? I will follow your updates with interest.
Hi Charlie
I did indeed finally get them back from ATC. Everything went fine putting them back together. However my 500 is still with Naim waiting for DR upgrade - another long delay it seems. So havenât been able to test them with music.
I am currently running the DBLs through my AV amp - no real test at all - but comparing the sound before using them in AV setting there is already a notable improvement in the sound out of the DBLs running them in stereo on movies etc. So I am hoping for a notable improvement on music once 500 is back. Perhaps I wonât need to change them after all .
I have also âinvestedâ in better cabling. Chord sarum t from 552ps to 500 and speaker cables.
I think the DBL design is sound with separate boxes etc (like Wilson Audio ) but if Scanspeak can fit a better midrange then that would be fantastic. I see on Falcon Acoustics website they make a few light midrange units that might fit. I think it would need to be fairly light to sit on the suspended plate. Fingers crossed.
Many thanks to you and all the other contributors on this thread. I wouldnât have had a clue otherwise.
Karl
awaiting your impressions then with the newly DRed 500. My guess is that youâll be quite overwhelmed 
.
Think itâs time then to come up with a picture gallery of all the newly refurbished DBLs here on the forum âŚ
Short update: Pilgrimage with the mid drivers to Scanspeak scheduled around March/April. I am optimistic
Wow, thatâs very interesting news. Good of them to have a look, theyâre hardly going to be making a mint out of it, but of course it will benefit NBL owners too.
Pilgrimage with my DBL mids to Scanspeak scheduled for early April.
I will just need to desolder the wires, and then remove and pack the drivers veery carefully to take them on a 7h ride. The plan is to determine their exact specifications, as naim unforunately can not provide these anymore. I hope for a solid assessment on their current status, with the option of a reconing job to be done and/or a recomendation for matching alternatives. Lets just hope corona is not getting in the wayâŚ
Hi
I finally received my 500 back from Naim with the DR upgrade. So this was my first opportunity to
hear the refurbished DBLs. I also upgraded cabling 552 ps to 500 and speaker cables to Chord Sarum T (from standard cables and Naca 5).
I usually hear improvements âstraight out of the boxâ. This time I didnât, so initially disappointed. So I left it on a system burn in disc for a few days. I was staggered by the improvement!
All together the changes are immense. never heard my system sound so good. I can now listen to my DBLs at low volumes and get a lot of pleasure from them. I attribute that to the lower noise floor of 500dr. Sound staging was always a good feature on DBLs. This has been further enhanced. Depth, bass dynamics, clarity and detail have all improved significantly.
Thoroughly enjoying it all.
Many thanks to all those I have learnt from in refurbishing the DBLs. Couldnât have done it without the forum. 
This is pretty much what I heard when I got my 500DRâd on DBLâs. However, I can happily report that the amp continued to improve over several more months with remarkable clarity and realism. I thought it so good It convinced me to get my 552DRâd.
Hi Geko
Thatâs great to hear. Actually it has exceeded my expectations.
The 500 is the first one I have DRâed so it has convinced me to do the 552 and 555 too.
But there are big delays on DR upgrades right now so I will wait awhile.
Karl
I wonder how much is down to the Chord cables youâve upgraded over the standard supplied Naim DIN/XLRs too? I only got my 500 (new) about 18 months ago and it sounded great from the beginning compared to the 300DR it replaced. Itâs probably improved since then but the changes have been gradual so not noticed as much as when upgraded itâs interconnects a few months back with SL versions. Now that was a difference I could hear straight away.
Iâve heard DBLs through a single 500DR but standard ICs and itâs one of the best systems Iâve heard so you must be loving what you have now. DBL owners are very lucky - itâs an immense speaker.
Good and fair point RackKit.
After more time on burn in , I will replace with the old cables and see what the difference is.
I was too impatient to put it all in 
I too have recently upgraded the DIN-XLR cables between 552 and 500 to Chord Sarum T. Iâd agree with you that this was a most noticeable improvement, particularly to soundstage and image depth. Notes are cleaned up too, with faster decay. Itâs surprising just how much the standard interconnects supplied with the NAP500 were choking the sound.
Mine were a used (but mint) set from @anon4489532 so obviously cheaper than new and less than 10% of the RRP of a 500 but they made such a difference I think Naim would be better bundling them in the box and adding another ÂŁ3k to the price. I doubt if many listening to both would decide to take the âcheaperâ option.
Still, they were designed for Statement so I canât it happening but plenty of owners use them on the Classic range too so they must be making a big difference all the way down the range.
In more ways than one.
Hi delft
Glad to hear. Yes, a DR upgrade on a 500 is quite a marked improvement. Enjoy your new system.
Charlie
I donât blame you, who wants to wait 6 months or whatever itâs meant to take for a 500 to burn in before getting the better cables installed too! 
Oh well 
Corona seems getting in my way, so the trip to skanspeak appears rather unlikely at the moment
Unfortunately I had to call off my trip to skanspeak today due to corona related travel restrictions ⌠oh well ⌠Iâll give it another try hopefully in June then 