If it's a single sided board, it would be pretty easy to scan and make gerber files of and create new boards.... And hell I'm just a diy guy.. If someone has one of these boat anchors for cheap I'm a buyer.. Peace
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.
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@pwayland To me you sound like a lot more than “just a diy guy,” at least relative to my ignorant ass. Like I said, I’ll get some answers, but if I’m Steve McCormack and even if I could do it, do I wanna spend my time reviving input boards on 25-30 year-old amps that probably need a cap replacement anyway? If you’re gonna replace the input board and caps, at that point you’re really not far off from getting an amp that performs literally more on a reference level at its price point. If you’re gonna go thru the labor to replace both an input board and caps that I assume would cost $1500+ on its own, why not just spend your time creating truly special amps at not much more $$$? That said, with many more 1990s DNA amps likely to fail from now on maybe you could set up a cottage industry just replacing those input boards. Do you think that’d be a worthwhile business? Could be I guess. To me, I got 25 years outta my amp and time to move upward and onward one way or the other. But kuddos if you think replacing input boards on 30yo amps is a viable business model. Just my thoughts from a business perspective, but I’m all happy happy doing just doing the full-Monty upgrade. But that’s me. |
@soix Yeah man your point is well taken, admittedly I'm on the high end of idiot savant in the DIY world and it likely doesn't make sense for the average consumer to pay someone to perform this kind of fix.... and the McCormack wasn't produced in high enough numbers to create any kind of economic model for anyone to take on this kind of project.... That being said, I'm all about sustainability and keeping great amps alive! and its really silly though. PCB's are so cheap if you have the layout. I can order 5 for less than $50. If you are of a mind to, mail it to me (just the pcb) and I'll send you new pcbs at cost. Would be fun to see Jims AFE circuit. I would also put the gerbers on the diyaudio site for anyone else to utilize. Peace |
McCormack Audio was purchased by Conrad Johnson many years ago and they no longer manufacturer McCormack amplifiers. SMc Audio is owned operated by Steve McCormack, the original designer of McCormack Audio amplifiers. SMc upgrades the older amplifiers and they also manufacture entirely new products, including amplifies, preamplifiers, and several unique ancillaries. SMc Audio has created new boards that can be used in failed McCormack Audio amplifiers. However, because of the labor involved, it is a better value to commission an entire upgrade of the amplifier, which would include the new boards. Yes, it is expensive but you can end up with an amplifier that approaches world class, depending on your upgrade choices. SMc performs the upgrades using mostly only the chassis and heat sinks from the older McCormack amplifiers. Otherwise, sell your failed amplifier to a buyer who wants to send it to SMc Audio so they can use the chassis and heat sinks to build a fully upgraded amplifier. I have owned some pretty good sounding amplifiers, including the following monoblocks: Clayton M300 and M200, Lamm M1.2 Reference and M1.1, Cary SA-500.1 and 500MB, and Herron M1. None of those displayed as satisfying a combination of dynamics, tonal density, and clarity as my SMc Audio DNA-1 ULTRA G monoblocks, that began their lives many years ago as two separate McCormack DNA-1s. Mine are the pair at the bottom of the first panel of pictures on the SMc Audio home page. While you are on the site, take the time to watch the 6-part video interview with Steve McCormack to become familiar with their business and product range.
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