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

Showing 2 responses by fsonicsmith1

@soix 

Convinced of your belief, you are being harsh and extreme, IME. You also have no basis to claim the converse-that every 1990's McCormack amp has either failed or is on the verge of failing. IMO, kchamber's viewpoint is likely more realistic. I can not think of too many consumer products that have had a 100% failure rate, not even the dreaded Yugo. 

@kchamber 

Thanks for the great post. Please stick around for more on this thread or others. Do you still perform repairs for others? Mind telling us a little more about your background and where you are located?