SMcAudio is a boutique brand at this point - selling high-end amps, preamps, etc. and they also rebuild old McCormack amps. I’ve heard nothing but great things about them. I still have an original McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe and have exchanged email with Pat about rebuilding it. He’s never pressured or even tried to sell me — just answered my questions and was really helpful. It’s also not crazy to have amps over $10K that aren’t balanced. Many examples out there. If you don’t want to buy it, just don’t buy it. What if I wrote a post that Pass Labs is sketchy? The XA25 is only 25 watts per channel and isn’t even balanced and they have the nerve to charge $5.2K for it. Barely any specs on their website and no measurements. Buyer beware!!! Sounds silly, right?
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.
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All I can say is this was my experience. Well, if you think $10.5k for a refurbished amp with decades old chassis and no balanced inputs is worth it, have at it ! I personally don’t think it’s a good value, and the same model was selling with a balanced input added for less than half on Audio Mart ! Call BS all you want but everything is 100 percent factual and I have all of the evidence and documents to support everything I am saying. |
Yes, it is true they don’t have a dedicated sales force. It appears to be largely a one-man operation with helpers. I’m not going to dox anyone or speak badly about any person in particular, that’s not how I do things. I am just sharing my experience with the company and somebody who apparently works with them. I do have credible personal information that this was an authorized sales distribution channel I was working with. Look, if you had a good experience with them great, I'm just sharing my personal experience and issues that I encountered. |
@fishagedone So, here’s the thing, I just flat out don’t believe your little story and it strains credibility in every way. I don’t know what your motivation is, but for you to come here and try to denigrate a company of the highest integrity is disgusting. At the very least you’re misrepresenting that the salesman you were dealing with works for SMcAudio because they don’t have any salespeople. It’s just Steve and Patrick and that’s it. |
This story seems very odd to me too. What you describe is 180 degrees from any experience I have ever had with SMc Audio. You may have been speaking with a former customer or possibly another industry professional who has a loose association with SMc Audio and ended up too far over their skis when trying to sell an amplifier. In my over 20 years of dealing with them, I have never heard of them pressuring anybody to do anything. At this point, SMc Audio is mostly a very small boutique craftsman shop and they usually have all the work they need. As far as I know there are only two principal employees and I doubt you were speaking with either of them. Their bespoke manufacturing model is maybe not for everyone but most of us who have their stuff understand the high level of quality and value of their products. IME, they are extremely good people to work with. |
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