McCormack Audio DNA-0.5 monoblock amps upgraded by SMc Audio includes shipping and PayPal!

I'm selling a pair of monoblock McCormack DNA-0.5 amps, upgraded by SMc Audio. These were given the so-called Rev A upgrade, which, previously, was the top-of-the-line upgrade offered by SMc Audio. (More recently, there've been higher levels still.)

I bought these from the guy who'd had the upgrades performed. I used them -- and loved them -- for several years, but have moved to a new house, with a new listening room, an entirely different setup, and haven't had them hooked up for a few years now. Thus, they are up for sale.

(A note on modified, upgraded products, generally speaking. Since nearly everything manufactured to be sold -- automobiles, wristwatches, computers, stereo components -- is built to a specific price point, the cost of each piece of the whole has to be considered. As such, their are inevitable compromises that need to be made when considering whether this or that should be used. Mods allow one to look past many of those kinds of decisions, seeking out the items best suited to the task at hand. As such, what one can get is so much closer to what the designer had envisioned -- before the real-world costs got in the way.)

SMc Audio, for those who don't know, is the company begun by Steve McCormack, who started, owned, and operated McCormack Audio before it was purchased by Conrad-Johnson. At SMc Audio, Steve (and Chris) perform upgrades to McCormack equipment, making already great products even better still. 

Each of these amplifiers, with both balanced and unbalanced inputs, puts out an astonishingly clean 400 watts into 8 ohms, doubling down into 4 ohms, etc. You want authority? They've got it like Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. You want musical, articulate, deep and profound bass? These babies have it. As for the highs -- they shimmer and glisten like the moistened skin of a swimsuit cover model out on the beach under the noontime sun.

But that's only a part of it. What these modified amplifiers have, what makes them so special, is a midrange magic, a natural beauty, a kind of clarity that will bring you into the music, keeping you playing and listening and smiling, reaching for one more favorite recording long into the night.

A description of the mods, from a piece in Stereophile by Kalman Rubinson: "Rev.A ... is, as SMc calls it, "the Full Monty!" Every single part affecting the signal, including output-stage caps and emitter resistors, is replaced with what he feels to be the best available, resulting in a complete rebuild of the amp."

Additionally (as per Rubinson's piece), the upgrades "eliminate the DC servo by reducing the DC gain to near zero." You also get Cardas binding posts, Kimber RCA jacks, Cardas board-to-board wiring, and heavy-gauge van den Hul output wiring.

And there's more. The mono conversion not only adds a balanced input,not only brings the amp up to its mighty powerful specs, it also makes it a "true balanced" device. This, from SMc's FAQ page: "The description 'true balanced' usually refers to equipment designed to be fully differential from input to output. This requires two fully independent signal paths per channel, and is necessarily much more expensive than a similar unbalanced design. ... [W]hen you are ready for the ultimate in amplifier performance, a matched DNA monoblock pair will give you 'true balanced,' fully-differential operation that is out-of-this-world!"

I've rated these at 7/10 because of their age -- I bought 'em about a decade ago. But they really are in remarkably great shape -- on all sides and from any angle. (One note: while the amps are a perfect match sonically and in nearly every way visually, the tops of the units are slightly different from each other. This isn't the kind of thing that one notices unless they are sitting side by side; located behind or beside the speakers, they might seem mostly to be in slightly different light, shadow, etc. It never bothered me, and others never even noticed it until I pointed it out. Still, I mention this as I don't want a buyer to be surprised.)

I just hooked these up to test them and found them to be sounding as fabulous as ever. As SMc Audio has raised its upgrade prices, this is a golden opportunity for someone who is looking to purchase a pair of absolutely fabulous amplifiers at a genuinely great price. These days, one can pay thousands and thousands of dollars for even a fairly rudimentary pair of monoblocks. Why venture down that road when this one beckons?

You can buy these and hook 'em up and sit down and listen. Happily. Very happily.

And, should you find yourself getting the upgrade itch later on, should you happen to be so inclined, should you find yourself wanting still more, SMc Audio offers additional upgrades that will bring even more magic into your listening room.

At my asking price, I'll cover insured shipping to the lower 48 and will eat the PayPal fees. I'll also include a pair of Signal Cable power cables, each 3 feet long. While these are not the last word in PCs, they are a very definite improvement over stock, generic power cables, and they allow these amps to really strut their stuff.

I've got the original boxes and all the associated packing materials.

Write with questions, of course. Or, if you'd like to chat, write to let me know that, and I'll give you my phone number or you can give me yours.