If you want to sell it here, you’ll have to pay for an ad.
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.
Showing 8 responses by ozzy62
My question is this. How did you come in contact with this "sales person"? Did you call sMC audio or did they reach out to you? Is this a third party "sales person" who has nothing to do with sMC? I really doubt that you spoke with Patrick or Steve. Please give more information for such a damning post.
|
All this talk about sales agents. Where the hell did you contact this person? Is that a big secret? You aren't doing your credibility any favors. And I still don't understand why you are harping on the lack of balanced inputs. That's not the criteria by which high end amplifiers are judged. Finally, the price you reference doesn't seem to be commensurate with prices on upgraded McCormack amps. I think someone tried to scam you and it sounds like you perceived it to be genuine. Full disclosure, I own an Smc GT-24 with all the bells and whistles, including a new chasis and custom faceplate. It is a fantastic sounding amp and no, it doesn't have balanced inputs. |
This is the first time I have ever heard of sMC having an agent. I bought my amp as a GT-20 back in July and when I decided I wanted to upgrade it, I picked up the phone and called Pat. We had several conversations and emails over the next few days about what I wanted and what they would do. He sent me an invoice and I shipped the amp out. Are you saying this process has drastically changed in the course of a few months? |
I’ve got 5k in my DNA 0.5 and I can say it was money well spent. I’m not sure what SS amp you could find in that price range that could beat it. Mine has the magnetic circuit breaker type switch @soix mentioned, but most of the time it’s left on. |