Thanks again… cables are probably the best they’ve been right now so should be able to maintain what I’ve done today when the 500 arrives.
Good shout on pipe insulation. I have some and I’m using it where needed.
The 300 is sounding pretty good at the mo… there’s definitely something to the cable dressing malarkey 
It takes time. First attempt just get it in and up and running.
Fiddle about with it later. It’s more if you get it horribly wrong that there will be problems.
I don’t think that will happen with you though as you are thinking about it already.
This is a very helpful and timely read. I am going to strip my system down for a much needed dust ahead of some new cables arriving. I am going to move my Fraim a bit further away from the wall to give the Burndy’s more space to breathe and I also had some pipe insulation arrive this morning, as despite my best efforts to keep cables apart, over time they naturally relax and start resting against each other…
ps. like you Dan, I plug in the cables as I add a Fraim level/box. Otherwise you give yourself a nightmare task at the end and it is a lot harder to keep the cable dressing neat.
I’ve got clearance from the wall now which helps greatly.
Cables are finding their natural position after a night in the new configuration and a little adjustment is required.
I defo think there’s a difference, slightly better separation and bass is more defined since getting the burndies off the floor. It does mean I have had to move the PSUs to the top 3 shelves, leaving 2 empty shelves below, but I’m ok with that.
Some pics of your system will help us with stacking order suggestions, if you’d like.
I have 3 stacks:
Left
ND555
Empty
555PS
555PS
EE8 and Farad PS
Middle
552 HU
Empty
500 HU
PhoenixNet
Right
LP12
KRadikal
500PS
552PS
Zoneripper NAS
I think the idea is to have a maximum of 1 empty shelf per stack.
I hear it is very heavy so that exercise matt should come in handy.
Great news. Hope set up is going well!
It’s in and running … think it’s going to be great. Warming up now, initial feelings are more of everything.
Will let cables settle and do some serious listening and report back later…
Quick update…
Initial thoughts were that this is going to be great, but something doesn’t seem quite right.
It can sound spectacular and also a bit muddy. The bass can be both impressive but on some tracks blown out, so much so I’m considering putting the port bungs in my speakers.
I’m going to try and find out how much use it’s had , as I know it’s been in a box for almost a year and wasnt used much before then…
The 300DR will be staying in the spare room, just in case I’ve unbalanced things. New speakers and or ND555 aren’t on the cards for at least a year and at the moment I think I prefer the 300 in my system/room.
I know these things can take a while to settle in so I’ll give it a week or and report back.
Try moving the speakers few inches and see what happens. It’s at least free to try 
I’ll be very interested to hear what your opinions on the change is - I’ve got a very similar system to you, and a 500 is the logical next (last)? step
I’ll have play later… as you say nothing to lose.
My dealer (who has decades of experience with Naim) said that if the PS unit has been off for a while, it can take several days powered up to settle down. If you’re able to leave it running 24 hours a day (the mute button is your friend here) that might help
Yes, Julian Vereker once said :
"The NAP500 seems to be much more like a pre-amp, it takes ages to warm up - not at all like 250s or 135s.
julian"
IME, you might find it’s treble forward and bass lite (= sounds highly detailed) for the first day or so from cold, then there will be a couple of days when things are a tad variable, then it should warm to the point that the overall music-scape emerges, with more and much better controlled bass.
The above is another reason to make sure the burndy and cable dressing is optimal.
How old a model is it?
It’s a 2022 model…
I’m going to reseat the burndies this afternoon. I’ve been over the cable dressing already , but will recheck everything later.
Reason I ask is that sometimes kit doesn’t take to being stored (as someone at Naim said to me, all the components are designed to be used 
).
I think it’s just in warm-up mode. You will get more bass out of it than a 300, certainly more detail. It’s quite a different animal than a 300 IMHO
there’s no rush and I’m happy to give it some time and see what happens.
It’s an interesting journey. It took the 552 sometime to hit its stride lets hope it’s the same here too…
