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

Showing 3 responses by pkatsuleas

pkatsuleas
248 posts
 

@soix 

I have a 90's .5 that I picked up a few years ago.  One of 3 amps in my rotation.  Thankfully, still working great as of a few months ago until I switched it out for my Hegel. Probably put it back in the system soon to give it a run - fingers crossed!  ;-)

The board failure is a known problem that came to my attention when talking with my repair tech a while back.  I inquired about switching out the old capacitors and doing a refresh, so to speak.  He pretty much advised against it and warned me to not be surprised if it quits on me.  Hopefully, I've got one of the hardier ones!  Like others, I've been considering sending it in for a makeover.  We'll see.

My question is: that you know of, is there any actual risk of fire, other component damage, etc?  Seems like a solder or two failing on a board wouldn't be any real threat.  But, I'm not an expert by any means.  What happened when yours failed?

Thanks     

pkatsuleas
248 posts
 

@soix 

Thanks.  Like I said, fingers crossed

pkatsuleas
248 posts
 

@stevemcx 

Thanks for chiming in here.  I've enjoyed your recent vids with Audiophile junkie.

After your initial post I thought my 0.5 was off the hook!  Oh well.  It is over 20 yrs old after all.  I will have to get it back in the system soon and see what happens.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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