2. amps-preamps
  3. 181722-96

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
vair68robert
628 posts
 

@soix 

Conrad Johnson manufactured the MF2250 & MF2275 solid state amplifiers ,

They are the same as the McCormack DNA-250 , which C.J. manufactured after buying the name and rights to McCormack ,  Steve McCormack makes no claim to designing the 250 ,

so C.J. will repair that model , at least when I contacted them a few years ago .

soix OP
9,787 posts
 

@vair68robert Like I said, CJ and McCormack were involved in producing a few models but nothing much more than that. They were certainly not “sister companies.”

vair68robert
628 posts
 

@soix 

I don't believe  that saying  @ram360j  was spreading " CRAP " ,  maybe he was wrong by calling a " sister " company .

Hello Friends -

It is certainly no secret that McCormack Audio was purchased by the Conrad-Johnson Design Group back in 1998. It was then moved back to Virginia, where it shares its headquarters with conrad-johnson. While both companies share resources, they each maintain their separate, distinct identities.

I am still the primary designer for McCormack Audio, and have done the equipment design since the move. I also do the shows and dealer seminars. My true role, however, is as part of a design team, so I may not be responsible for every aspect of some future designs.

A good deal of my time is also taken-up by my own small business, SMc Audio. This is something I enjoy very much, as it brings me into direct contact with you folks and lets me indulge my audio imagination by rebuilding my earlier designs. I think this works-out pretty well for all concerned ;-)

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
www.SMcAudio.com​​​​​​​

 

 

soix OP
9,787 posts
 

@vair68robert Yeah, you’re right and that was probably a bit harsh and I apologize.  It was, however misleading. 

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