SMC McCormack or Vincent Pwr Amp

My guess is others are saying Parasound because of the cost and the Parasound is newer I believe. If you were to acquire a DNA-1 in stock form it will run you $750 to $950 shipped depending on your luck/patience nowadays. Then to have it sent to SMc Audio for modifications which will run you $1500 to $2000 depending on the level of modification you desire. So you may be in the $2200 to $2900 range on money spent.

A new Parasound Halo A21 goes for $2650 shipped from Audio Advisor. You get a newer designed amp but to me an SMc Audio DNA-1 is pretty much re-built from the ground up so it is new IMO once you get it back from them.

I'm thinking I'd go with the SMc Audio modded DNA-1 for the customer service as well as the experience of many others who have had glowing reviews of SMc Audio modded gear.

Aragon is still in business I believe. Do they modify or restore the older line of Aragon amps? Maybe they can modernize your 4004 MK2?

It's now Indy Labs. From what I remember they don't mod the 4004 only because they are onto newer stuff now.

You pretty much nailed the discussion on the head regarding the new/old and $$. It came down to some people saying, if you are going to spend $2500, just look for a newer amp on the used market to not futz around.

Is the new Aragon stuff from the guys who used to be Mondial? I had an Acurus A250 that now defunct Mondial fixed a couple of times...I suppose I could look that up...also, I hope Audio Advisor knows people who can work on Vincent stuff in case my Kavent (re-badged Vincent) preamp ever gets sick.

Buying an un-modded used McCormack amp and then modding it is not a good idea. Better to wait for a Rev. A or Gold level modded amp and buy that used so you get big discounts on both the amp and the mods. My experience is they don't need much service, but if they ever do you know they're very well supported. The bonus is that you can buy one used and sell it for little/no loss if it's not to your liking. Best of luck.

I have 2 platinum+ modded DNA.5 (one is stereo and one is converted to a monoblock).

There really is no weakness in these amps except with 2 caveats...

1. If your speakers require more power than whatever version of McCormack you buy. Amp purchases are all about proper mating with the speaker. Thus, the #1 priority is buying an amp that meets the demands of your speakers. Don't forget though, you can throw an autoformer on speakers and tweak low impedance speakers into something more friendly to drive.

2. If your speakers have challenging impedance curves, which are more suited to amplifiers that can swing voltage more than current. In which case, you should consider a tube amp and not SS amps.

Otherwise, you are crazy not to buy a McCormack product.

There are some Class A and OTL designs that are quite good and you could eek out more performance, but they come with a much higher cost and other trade-offs.

McCormacks give you a modest cost for entry, plus you never have to buy another amp again and pay dealer markup...just have Steve mod it if anything new comes up.

I've had the original .5 for probably 20 years now, but they have been routinely modded and upgraded to still be competitive with virtually everything out there. The parts in mine are far above what I've seen in amps costing 5x as much.

Here's a funny story that also highlights another benefit...I used to have a hardcore dedicated room, but my McCormacks are now used by my wife and 8 yr old in a 3 channel HT setup I created for them. It's huge overkill and my wife almost got me to sell them so she could get an easy to switch on/off receiver, but I couldn't do it. However, I was amazed that if I did sell them, I could get a much higher % of my cost back.

Try that formula with any new amplifier and you will lose tons of money the instance you plug it in.