McCormack DNA-1 runs hot

I had some problems with my 225 that ended up being traceable to a bad IC to the preamp. My problems actually resulted in repairs (a good excuse I used to get an SMc upgrade).

I've tried it with 3 different IC to the preamp and with 2 different speakers, same result. The heat/warm comes mostly from the sides, not really from the top. If the rule is to be able to keep your hands on it for more than 1 minute, so that should be normal and I can leave with that (the sound is fantastic). Surpised to see that this fact doesn't seem to borther other owners... Maybe, I am not difficult...

I've tried it with 3 different IC to the preamp and with 2 different speakers, same result. The heat/warm comes mostly from the sides, not really from the top. If the rule is to be able to keep your hands on it for more than 1 minute, so that should be normal and I can leave with that (the sound is fantastic).

Hi Papazeze,

Your description of the warmth of your DNA-1 sounds completely normal. The DNA-1 runs fairly warm, but you can leave your hands on the heatsinks easily. And as you point-out, it's only the heatsinks that get warm, just as it should be. The idle temperature can be affected by several factors, but the most important by far is having unrestricted air flow around the amp and over the heatsinks. As long as you have at least several inches of space around the amp, you should be fine. The amp will, of course, run hotter if you push it hard for some time, but this is normal as well.

Glad to hear you are enjoying it!

Best regards,

Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

I just checked using a kill-a-watt meter and the idle draw on my amp after one minute is 145w (@120.7v); the meter also read 1.74 amps. The volt reading was creeping up a bit, but seemed to stabilize. Nice to see Steve adding his comments here. My amp has the Rev A+ treatment from 1999 to 2001 period (two separate updates). Great amp, but haven't bothered to compare with others. I'd still call it "hot". :)