Up for sale is my modded McCormack DNA .5 "near-Rev A" (which is now called the "Gold" package) SS amp. This is a hard sale to make since this amp is one of the truly great amps to be produced in the last decade. I am only selling it because I've upgraded to a McCormack DNA 500 amp and I really don't have any need for this beauty anymore.
This amp started it's life as a DNA .5 deluxe, and has had most of the upgrades standard in the McCormack "Silver" upgrade previously called Rev B) and a significant number of the "Gold" mods as well (previously called Rev A):
- circuit revision with high performance NP Muse Capacitors
- driver board circuit revision using Nichicon KG Gold Tunes capacitors and implementing KZ and RelCap RT bypass capacitors strategically
- standard upgrade of the output boards (includes copper/silver hybrid wiring and a select group of high performance components such as Caddock TF resistors in key locations)
- Cardas Rhodium RCA jacks
- Cardas Rhodium Binding Posts
- Soft Recover Diode Bridge Package
- Rebiasing (per Steve's express instructions, which are included if you ever want to do this again)
The amp was voiced with the help of Bob Crump (God rest his soul), who also voiced the Parasound JC-1 amp for John Curl. The Nichicon Gold caps are used throughout both the DNA .5 and the JC-1. Bob Crump used RelCap RT caps and Nichicon KZ caps as bypasses on the JC-1 instead of BlackGates, because of the propensity of BlackGates to lose their forming/break-in if not constantly played. I also followed Bob's voicing trick to good effect on this amp.
As you can see there is also some chassis and component damping applied, including under the transformer for added isolation and on the heatsinks to reduce ringing and resonances. Some of the internal wiring has also been updated (ground plane) with a silver/copper hybrid wire over the standard fare that was in there originally. It should also be noted that I was able to obtain Nichicon KG Gold Tunes capacitors, which are the finest caps Nichicon makes. Even Steve McCormack was not able to use these in his mods because they have to come direct from the manufacturer and are not readily available.
It is smooth and extended with a wonderful presence, free of grit and grain. It gets to the soul of the music. 100W into 8 ohms, 200 into 4 ohms and 500 into 2 ohms - this amp can drive most speaker loads with sufficient power and finesse.
Many ravers have heard this amp in my system and can give you their impression as well. I'm parting with this because I upgraded to the DNA 500, and I have to say that the family sound is very much present in both of these amps. In fact, I'm not sure I got a whole lot of "improvement" in the sound going from the .5 to the 500 - it is that good!
I would be asking $1000 on Audiogon, but am willing to let it go here to a fellow AC'er for $900 plus shipping and PayPal fees a Rev B just sold on Audiogon for $875). Original box and materials. I would rate this an 8/10, only because it has been modified and used with loving care.
Thanks for looking,
Bob
Front View
Back View
Insides
Output Board
