That’s so true. Sometimes the bigger is not better. Less detailed and not as good in all hifi aspects - but, so good or better in the most impressive aspect. Reaching your heart 
and making you feel.
Had several moments when I thought „this must be better - but liked the old one more“ HDX over melco / NDS over nd555, … I call it the „nait effect“.
Hope that you will not abandon your main system now.
You did the right thing! Congratulations! Don’t sell your main system please 
CB 135 are wonderful into Kan’s especially active,as @khan84 now has
DBL’s ,a six pack CB135’s is fantastic outperformed both Nap 160’s and also a passive Nap 500 in my system.
Congratulations, well done!
I agree with Crazy River, a single 500 was better than my active 135’s. A mate still has his active 135/DBL system and I hear that quite regularly, but make no mistake either would be good when you feed them into DBL’s!
Welcome to the club.
A six-pack of 350s might be interesting!
Or even 3x500 
Or 3 x NC NAP250s, the possibilities are endless!
I’m so with you on the musicality of the 12/160BD. Very much like the Nait 1 turned up to 11. Prior to this I would have said that the MOST exciting sound I’d heard was the 52/135s. Very energetic even though at times it would not hold the lower notes or the upper notes anywhere near as well the 500DR. However it was a thrilling listen. I think the 12/160BD is even more exciting a listen.
Yes it’s such a bummer that the gentleman packed these gems so poorly. Like I mentioned if he is willing to offer a noteworthy discount I’ll consider keeping them. However I really want to find tidy units now. I will treasure them for life.
lol no I’ve definitely learned from my mistakes. The tube system is the most correct system I have assembled. It does not over do any part of the music. Everything is in its place and I hear everything. I mean everything. Take your pick of instrument and you can follow it throughout the song. Clear defined lines. Holographic, three dimensional sound with body and just the perfect amount of warmth. Where it does not do so well is loudness and absolute slam. This is where solid state shines and perhaps always will.
it’s a strange thing to realise but when I listen to the tube based system I’m thinking this is exactly how it would sound if I was listening live. And yet here I am glued to my seat listening to the nasal output of the Kans through bolt down naim gear that is just throwing the music out in the room without bothering with finesse and ultimate articulation. Just pure magic.
Very interesting @Igel so you’re saying you preferred your active 135s over the passive 500?
So happy I’ve finally got my holy grail of a speaker. I think I’m going to really enjoy this journey.
I forget where I read this but somebody mentioned the DBL is the only speaker that has the energy and speed of the Kans but then give you that gut wrenching slam and power that only a large speaker can do.
lol. I can safely say I won’t be privileged enough to be in this position. I hope it happens but I doubt it.
Very interesting. If many consider 6 pack 135s are bettered by a NAP 500DR passive, I’m not so sure that the 500 will better 6 pack 350s on DBLs. Just a guess.
in an explanation about the differences between the NAP 350 And NAP500dr a comment was made how a bridged design amplifier can be a little more in your face than the more refined approach of the NAP 350s.
The thing is though I think I love the in your face sound quite a bit now. I think it’s because in my hifi journey I’ve always gone for a more sophisticated sound. As sophisticated as you can get with Naim that is. Because let’s be honest Naim is far more in your face than many other amplifiers. Almost to the point that other amps sound like they’re asleep. I know I’m gonna get so much hate for this but Vitus. Zzzzzzzz lol. Sorry Vitus owners. I’ve only heard the SIA 025 with Avalon speakers so make of that what you will. Dart zeel also boring but I think that could’ve been the Martin Logan e stats which I just didn’t like at all.
Approaching 3am and I’m still listening to the bolt down gear. That’s the mark of a good system.
The speed and the bass slam I’m getting out of these tiny things is staggering. I know the stands and my arrangement of plinths and silicone nitride bearing balls are doing their thang but wow. Love it!
Kan could have very impressive bass in small room if done right. You need the highly-rigid Kan 2 stands to achieve this.
Make sure all of your 4 spikes are locked and rock solid, fully levelling the Kans for the stereo imaging and bass response. I would highly recommend @GaryYeowell ‘s tricks, putting little nuts+blutack under the cabinets for the best bass response.
Bolt down gears are comparatively bass-light and lean anyway. You need the CB250 for best result (big warm sound, full fat bass). 135 going lean again tho.
That was probably me. I’ve mentioned a few times, that in my opinion, the DBL should have been the natural upgrade from the Kan and not Linn’s Isobarik, as the Isobarik’s are just too slow!
I think you’ll find that the DBL’s work well even in a small room and have a cunning ability to blend in with the decor. I don’t think I’ve ever had a comment, from anyone visiting, asking what those big black wardrobes were in my front room, which is somewhat surprising.
On the subject of 350’s vs 500 vs 135’s my dealers comment on the 350’s (and I tend to agree) is that they lack the grip of a 500.
I completely know what you mean and it’s lovely to read someone else having the same experience.
After struggling with modern equipment for a long time (mostly Linn), getting back into vintage LP12 and Kans was such a relief and I reconnected with so many songs and artists that I thought I’d grown out of. Only difference was I was using vintage Naim instead of vintage Exposure amps this second time around which was an additional bonus.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite get Kans to work out long-term in my room but others here have worked harder at it and seem to have found success. You can learn a lot from people here if you do start to struggle in certain areas once the excitement has settled down a bit.
Any sound character, such as this, has nothing whatsoever to do with an amp being bridged: without going into the detail all bridging means is that a pair of identical amps are connected together in such a way that their output voltages are added, giving double the voltage and hence 4x power into the same impedance. Character comes from the base amps. I don’t know any detail of the 500 base amp circuits, but say, for example, they simply took two 250s, then the sonic character would be that of 250s. Potentially that could be done with any pair of “single ended” amps.
The disadvantage of bridging is that the original power rating per base amp would be into a doubled impedance (e.g. 16Ω if base was 8Ω), so the amps behave as if running into half their normal nominal impedance, limiting the actual lowest impedance into which they are happy, so might not be so good with low impedance speakers.
Yes ,active is active passive just passive 
Started out with NAC552/NAP500 and it’s wonderful, but I had heard active 6-pack in the past so had a nagging feeling that it sounded more alive, so tried first 3x Nap250 and the live feeling was there and become even better with 6x Nap 135´s .
I have also tried different variations with Nap 500 DR on the Tweeters and Nap 300 Dr on the Midrange but it didn´t work very well in timing.
I´ve heard reports that the Nap 350´s have much better grip than the bridged Nap 500.
You’ve only got to look at their specs to see that!
