Don’t buy used McCormack DNA 1990s amps


This is a public service announcement.  There are some yahoos on other sites selling 1990s McCormack DNA amps, sometimes at ridiculous prices.  While they’re great amps, and I happily owned a DNA 0.5 RevA for 20 years, they’re all gonna fatally fail.  Why?  Because their input board is at the end of its useful life, and when it fails your amp is dead and not repairable by anyone — not even SMcAudio.  It’s a boat anchor.  The only option is to sell it for scraps or get an SMcAudio upgrade that’ll cost around $2000.  Given my love of my amp I chose to do full upgrades given what else I could’ve gotten for the same same price and just got it back and will forward thoughts if anyone cares.  But the purpose of this post is to warn off any prospective buyers of a circa 1990s DNA amp that it’ll fatally fail soon, so unless you get a great price and plan on doing the SMcAudio upgrades just avoid these amps on the used market.  You’ve been warned. 

soix

@mitch2

I suspect this is heading way deep into proprietary business issues. Since C-J acquired McCormack, it would seem that any notifications about the equipment would be the responsibility of C-J and likewise any sharing of equipment schematics would be their prerogative.

You would expect that this was the case but there is a thread on Audioasylum with a 2009 date on it where Steve Mc. himself responded on a thread telling a user that PDF schematics were available and he normally responds immediately to email requests for them. That date was about 10yrs after CJ bought the rights to the DNA amps, so if a legal limitation was in effect then the last thing he would be doing is posting and publicly offering schematics to the amps on audio forums. There are also other threads on alternate forums with later dates where people supposedly emailed him and received the schematics. Suddenly in the last few years this openness is no longer the case. I should add that I did ultimately find the schematics by contacting users on DIYAUDIO, but it shouldn’t have to come to that for a 30yr old electronics design. They should be public info after a certain period of time.

My suggestion of safety was not due to your prior statement. I understood your intent. I was just covering the "safety" aspect in case that was the motivational factor for SMc.

 

Just looking for some advice based on the direction this discussion seems to be going: I have a DNA-1 Deluxe that took increasingly long to go through its safety checks before starting until it didn't. I have the box and am set up to send it in with a proposed total replacement of the main board and all power supply capacitors. How far should I go down this rabbit hole before opting out and getting a Benchmark AHB2 or other options? I'll be driving Harbeth M30.1's. an old pain of Celestion SL600's and a slightly new pain of Acarian Alon1's. Thanks.

@davidbeagrace Good question to which there is no easy answer as it’s a very personal decision. I ultimately decided to upgrade my DNA 0.5 RevA at SMcAudio when it failed for the following reasons:

  • I really like the sound of my amp
  • I know getting the amp upgraded will just give me more of everything I already like, so it’s a pretty sure bet
  • The upgrade cost with partial gravity base was “only” $2500 and would basically give me a whole new amp
  • The other amps I was considering that I was fairly confident would be a significant upgrade we’re all >$5000
  • I didn’t really want to go thru the whole search process to find another amp

Taking all those things into account drove me to go with the upgrade. Due to a problem with my preamp I haven’t been able to listen to the amp but hoping I will this weekend, but I’ll forward thoughts once I’ve got some hours on it. Sorry about your amp — I know it sucks — but hope this helps, and best of luck with your decision.

Has anyone here had their McCormack DNA-1 renewed by McCormack/conrad-johnson? Feedback? Thanks.

@davidbeagrace I recently tried a Simaudio Moon 330a. Thinking it will be a very nice match with your harbeths. Used can be found around $2500. Not discouraging you with McCormack. Just another option that may work just as good or better.