FS: McCormack DNA-500 amp

[Triode Pete]

bump!    Going up on Audiogon this weekend.    If you're interested touch base now so we can both avoid the A'gon fees.

Thanks for looking.

Good Luck the sale, Mike! That's an awesome sounding amp!

Cheers,
Pete

[mdconnelly]

Sold.  It seems threatening to put it up on Audiogon works!

Sold it to a great local guy named Denny.  Hope he enjoys it - a great amp that I will undoubtedly cause the occasional moments of regret in selling.

[Triode Pete]

Sold.  It seems threatening to put it up on Audiogon works!

Sold it to a great local guy named Denny.  Hope he enjoys it - a great amp that I will undoubtedly cause the occasional moments of regret in selling.

Cool, congrats! Nothing like selling that heavy behemoth to a "local"!

Pete

[richidoo]

Sad, but good! Congrats. I think I know him, from down Charlotte way?

[StereoNut]

Congrats!

[Nick B]

Congrats on the sale and Denny is a lucky guy. I was curious about the weight and the DNA 500 is 81 lbs vs my DNA 1.0 which is 53 lbs. Wow...quite a difference
Nick

[BobM]

Denny is getting an amp that he will likely never have to replace (unless he wants tubes down the road). Just be sure to advise him about matching an appropriate pre-amp with it (after he pays for it of course).

The input impedance of the 500 is very low, so the output impedance of a preamp for it also needs to be very low. Some will just not mate correctly and cause a problem.

[mdconnelly]

Good info, Bob.  To be honest, I've only ever used 2 preamps with the DNA-500 (a modded ARC SP9 and an Oracle DAC 1000) and did not have have any problems.   But I did have a discussion with Steve McCormack about this very issue before I bought the amp.  I can't remember the details of the reply but he felt that most preamps have a sufficiently low output impedance (under 1k I think) so as not to be a problem.  It's also important to note that the 10k impedance of the DNA amps is only when running balanced (which, of course, is a good thing to do if possible).  I believe it's 100k via the rca inputs.

But good info and I've passed it along.   I've talked with quite a few other happy owners over the years and have never run into anyone that had the problem you're describing.   Interesting...   

[cjmustang69]

Denny is getting an amp that he will likely never have to replace (unless he wants tubes down the road). Just be sure to advise him about matching an appropriate pre-amp with it (after he pays for it of course).

The input impedance of the 500 is very low, so the output impedance of a preamp for it also needs to be very low. Some will just not mate correctly and cause a problem.

I'm the new owner of Mike's McCormack DNA-500 amp.  It was great meeting Mike and also having opportunity to purchase this amp locally.  Fortunately, I'm using a Pass Labs X-1 preamp which has output impedance of 750 ohms for balance output.  So far, I'm very impressed with the McCormack amp.  I initially had a pair of Quad ESL-63 USA speakers connected and now have a pair of Usher Be-718 speakers connected to system.  Both pair of speakers have never performed as well with other amps I have used compared to the McCormack.  It is early in my ownership of this amp, but I suspect I will be holding onto it for sometime.

[tmazz]

Denny is getting an amp that he will likely never have to replace (unless he wants tubes down the road). Just be sure to advise him about matching an appropriate pre-amp with it (after he pays for it of course).

The input impedance of the 500 is very low, so the output impedance of a preamp for it also needs to be very low. Some will just not mate correctly and cause a problem.

I'm the new owner of Mike's McCormack DNA-500 amp.  It was great meeting Mike and also having opportunity to purchase this amp locally.  Fortunately, I'm using a Pass Labs X-1 preamp which has output impedance of 750 ohms for balance output.  So far, I'm very impressed with the McCormack amp.  I initially had a pair of Quad ESL-63 USA speakers connected and now have a pair of Usher Be-718 speakers connected to system.  Both pair of speakers have never performed as well with other amps I have used compared to the McCormack.  It is early in my ownership of this amp, but I suspect I will be holding onto it for sometime.

Welcome aboard!   

[mdconnelly]

Welcome Denny and happy to see you here on AN!   Great bunch of audionuts here.

[Triode Pete]

Welcome Denny and happy to see you here on AN!   Great bunch of audionuts here.

+2, Welcome Denny!!!

Always nice to see good people join the ranks of Nervosa!!!

Cheers,
Pete

[Nick B]

+3  Welcome aboard Denny! A great place to hang out. I love the McCormack gear. Have an updated DNA 1.0 and updated DAC 1 and sometime soon to be updated Micro Phono. It'll be interesting to have an all McCormack system
Nick

[cjmustang69]

Thank you for warm welcome.  I enjoy audio as a hobby and look forward to participating here. 

[BobM]

Denny - please let me know if you have any questions about the amp that I may be able to assist you with. It truly does have extra reserves of power that mostly go unnoticed, until they are needed. The "velvet hammer" indeed.