Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe Monoblock Rev-A Gold Plus Amplifier (SS) by alon5rev3@yahoo.com

Model:	DNA-1 Deluxe Monoblock Rev-A Gold Plus
Category:	Amplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price:	$5,070
Description:	SMc Audio upgrade for DNA-1 Deluxe
Manufacturer URL:	McCormack
Model Picture:	View

Review by alon5rev3@yahoo.com ( A ) on July 08, 2003 at 00:59:48
IP Address: 67.127.32.141

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for the DNA-1 Deluxe Monoblock Rev-A Gold Plus

Before I get to the review of these beautiful sounding amps I'd like to explain how I got to this level of upgrade with SMc Audio. Back in 1997 I purchased a DNA-1 Deluxe amp and a TLC-1 pre-amp. I loved the sound of this combination and used the stock units until 2000 when I had the two pieces upgraded to Rev-A. The improvement was stunning to the point I didn't believe I was listening to the same amps, but then again I really wasn't because they were both totally rebuilt. I live in southern California which enabled me to hand deliver and pick up the amps Vs. shipping them to Steve McCormack. About 16 months after the upgrade the DNA-1 went into protect mode so back it went to be fixed (there is a 3 year warranty on the upgrades), and while it was there I had Steve put the Plitron toriodal transformer in and again another improvement. In April of 2003 I took my HT-1 3 channel amp in for a revision B upgrade and when I went to pick it up I told Steve that this was probably my last visit being I was out of things to upgrade. Somehow we started talking about monoblocks and before I knew it the gears were spinning in my head that I had to do this one last thing to my system. I found a mint DNA-1 Deluxe on Audiogon for $950 and before I knew it I was driving back to SMc audio to get the monoblocks built at the Rev-A gold level. About a week or two later Steve called me at work and asked me if I'd be interested in spending some more of my hard earned money on the amps because he had come up with a couple more substantial improvements that he hasn't offered to the public yet, and that he hated to see my amps leave his shop without, being I was already getting everything he had to offer in the Gold package. I agreed to the $500 per amp increase giving Steve the green light to proceed. The added feature was using Van den Hul solid carbon wire from the low voltage stage to the output stage and Siltech gold/silver hybrid wire from the output boards to the balanced and unbalanced outputs. On Thursday July 3rd I arrived at SMc Audio at about 7:30 PM (I was told to came as late as possible because they were still being burned in). When I walked in Steve told me the amps were still in his system and asked if I had time to listen to them. I said sure I'm in no hurry I'm on vacation. While Steve was looking for some CD's he wanted to demo the amps with, I commented on how beautiful the two amps looked sitting there stacked on a really nice amp stand. Steve replied "ya but they're more than just good looking, they're the best pair of amps I've ever built in my life". I said, really? He said yes and I haven't really figured out how to put words to it yet. While listening to the 2nd song a freind of his showed up sat down and started to listen. After a minute or so he says "there's something very different going on here" as he moved from a chair to the floor sitting center stage right between 2 Vandersteen 3A Signatures, while Steve was standing there listening with his eyes shut. I was starting to realize at this point that I had purchased something really special. After the song was over he said he never heard that cut presented in that way, it was like there weren't any amps there at all. After an hour or so of listening Steve helped me put the amps in the car and I was off for an hour long ride home which seemed like 5 hours because I was the proud owner of 2 amps Steve McCormack said were the best he's ever built. As soon as I got home I hooked them up and started listening to them disappear along with my speakers which seemed to melt into the floor and disappear also. Before I knew it the sun was coming up and it was 6:00am, I just couldn't quit listening to these amps. To start off the amps are dead quiet. Any amps I've ever had (including prior versions of the DNA-1) if I put my ear up to the speaker drivers there was some kind of low level hiss going on that you could hear up to a couple inches away. Not on these though, it's just black dead silence. This trait follows through to listening to music too. Every instrument whether it's piano, horns, cymbals, bells, vocals, etc. are surrounded by this silence allowing for exact placement in the soundstage with no in your face or overlapping smear texture at all. They don't have any traits normally talked about when discussing amps such as warm, cold, bloom, amazing highs,etc. From the highest frequency to the lowest it sounds perfectly balanced with no pronounciations in any area. They just sound so perfect in every way. I really don't know exactly how to give these things justice in words so I hope if Steve reads this post he can give me a little help in his own words now that he's had time to think about it. One thing I can tell you is that if you're considering an SMc Gold upgrade to a DNA-1 stereo or monoblock pair of amps, make sure you get this new option. Per Steve it will also be included in the Gold upgrade for the new DNA 125 and 225 when SMc makes it available in the near future. Steve and Kriss at SMc are great people to deal with and even though they like to spend my money for me they have never steered me wrong and I feel it's been worth every cent I spent there in the last three years. These are honestly the best amps I ever heard and I know I'm going to enjoy them for a long time to come. The MSRP is for the upgrade only and does not include the initial cost of the amps.

Product Weakness: None
Product Strengths: Well, Steve McCormack says they're the best pair of amps he's ever built. That in itself says a lot to people who know his products.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	DNA-1 Rev-A Gold monoblocks 380 watts/ch
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	McCormack TLC-1 w/ SMC Rev A upgrade, Myryad MDP-500
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Myryad MCD-200, Marantz DV8300
Speakers:	Alon V mkIII with Circe Alnico driver upgrades, Alon Centris surrounds, Alon Centris sub with ACI SV-10 driver, ACI Essence center channel
Cables/Interconnects:	Bogdan Silver Spirit Reference & ICS IC's, Magic Power cords, Ted's Excellent cable tri-wire single strand silver speaker cables
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Everything but country & rap
Room Size (LxWxH):	19 x 15 x 21
Room Comments/Treatments:	Sonex Classic Poly 2
Time Period/Length of Audition:	4 days
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	None
Product Strengths:	Well, Steve McCormack says they're the best pair of amps he's ever built. That in itself says a lot to people who know his products.