Mccormack DNA125 or Belles 150A Hot Rod

Both amps are (of course) good (great to some) and always brought to the head of the class when someone asks "what amp should I buy" (?). Butttttt. There are others. Many others. If all we had was Belles and McCormack, they could change the name of this website to the Belles and Mac hour.
OK... I'll bite. If I'm so smart, then list some. OK. They are ALL listed under AMPS (SS and Tube), right here on Audiogon. I have a MUSE 160mkII (currently). That amp (btw) is is the same price and power range (and a better amp..imho). Thats just one. I've went through a couple of McCormacks (have a couple of McCormack pieces now) and have had a few Belles amps (one of which was the venerable "450"... the Apogee thumper). But the point... is, not how many of the two I've owned, but how many OTHER amps are out there to concider. Pardon the pun, but Belles and McCormack are starting to sound like a broken record.

Time for a breath of fresh Ayre from those two.

Tubby

I agree with 4yanx. I have 2 DNA-1s that SMC converted to mono block and upgraded them to the platinum level including the plitron transformers. I could not be happier. I would reccommend a McCormack amp and as your system improves you can improve the amp with SMCs upgrades. Steve is absolutely wonderful to do buisness with. With all the upgrades there are very few amps that would compete. The only one I would consider is Atma-Sphere.

Pardon the pun, but Belles and McCormack are starting to sound like a broken record.

IMHO, you have VASTLY overblown the situation with respect to how often the McCormack and Belles amps are mentioned in this forum but, granted, these names (especially McCormack) are mentioned with some frequency. Wonder why the McCormack name fills the ayre so readily. :-)

To Ayre is human....:-)

Zaikesman, your review of the DNA-125 is spot-on. I (for one) wish that all reviews were this clear and to the point. The problem, of course, is that many readers do not share your experience with the DNA-500 or your tube monoblocks, and so have more difficulty understanding the context of your comments. Still, if people will read your comments carefully, they will wind-up with a better understanding of what the DNA-125 *actually sounds like* than they will get from any other review. The only thing better is to listen to it themselves ;-)

My thanks to all who took the time to comment on their experience with my amplifiers.

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
www.SMcAudio.com