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
soix OP
10,186 posts
 

Steve still the best place to upgrade and recap if you still want to stick with the best sound from DNA. Don’t listen to bs Soix.  I have good enough skill to repair and upgrade Krell, Adcom, DnA-1 and others

@seattlerepairhobby  Well good for you.  For the rest of us mere mortals when the input board goes as mine did — and it will go at some point due to the design and age — you’re looking at a $2500+ bill at SMcAudio to overhaul the amp because they don’t just repair the input board.  That’s a bitter pill to swallow when it happens and what I wanted prospective buyers to know before spending their hard-earned $$$ on an older McCormack amp.  The newer generation amps don’t suffer from this problem BTW.

 

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
8,185 posts
 

I hope that he repairs better than he writes.

gdaddy1
280 posts
 

A very helpful thread!!

As a 30 year owner of a DNA 0.5 with deluxe upgrade, it's good to hear from Steve Mc, that the board problem exists only in the 1.0.

I am contemplating re-capping. The parts are really not expensive so all that is required is a solder sucker and an iron and a bit of skill. Doesn't look that difficult as it's all mechanical replacement.  A day or two at most and the savings is substantial.

I have put this off because the amp still operates flawlessly and still sounds great. However, I do wonder if I am missing over the years. Maybe nothing!

Nothing lasts forever.

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