Vandersteen, DNA & SMcAudio (AKA "Mod Squad")

@gdbrbob... I can't really claim completely blind, in regards to, I have owned a "Mod Squad" Prism (Modified Magnavox CDB-650) since 1989 (which I still have and would loooooove to get playing again), and had a "Mod Squad" Line Drive Deluxe that I very regrettably gave up to move to a multi-channel system. So, Mr. McCormack has had my attention for a very very long time. After getting the speakers, I got a lot of recommendations for tube amps. The front end of the system is used for daily entertainment center type use, and I just could not get myself to justify burning up great tubes for "Wheel of Fortune" or "Blue Bloods". So, I sought what I felt would be the best SS solution I could find without killing my modest budget. When those sorts of claims ("world class sound without the world class cost") were made by none other than my long held hero(s), I decided to stick my neck out and go with the guy who I had the most confidence in that by my experience knows what good sound is (besides Mr. Richard Vandersteen).

As far as the pre-amp, unfortunately I cannot claim quite nearly as sexy equipment as the sole front end equipment. The current pre-amp is a Marantz 7702MKII 11.2 Surround.

The rest of the front end is Audioquest Water balanced interconnect, and two solo pair of MIT aVT2 speaker cables. I have a Adcom GFA-2535 driving a pair of Vandersteen 1B's, and a pair of I won't mentions of high back speakers.

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback (don't flog me too badly for my "pre-amp" ;-) )

... the DNA + Quatro's replaced a vintage pair of Vandersteen 2C's, and a pair of vertically bi-amp'd B&K ST-202's (which I now need to sell, along with an old PS Audio 100C that used to drive the 2C's)

After six years with a Parasound 2250 driving Vandy 2 CE to excellent results in my small room, The wife and I have remodeled. On the way is a SMc DNA1 Ultra Gold 18 with an enormous Plitron shipped directly from eBay to Steve. Cloth Quatros, shipping from John Rutan in Verona NJ next week, Anticables 2.1 cables arriving Monday. My preamp is a Sciit Mjolnir 2 tube hybid with Pyst and Vampire interconnects. With a month or more of burn in, calibration, and room treatment ( Mr Rutan has recommended an angled across the room approach to minimize 1st reflections ) I will post results and progress. 
But I am thrilled by where I am headed.

"OK" so here is a bit of a follow up on this...

The "system" was:

The best of two B&K ST-202’s (as was the migration form a vertically bi-amp’d 1988 Vandersteen 2c’s), Vandersteen Quatros (CLOTH edition, as had been spliced into the system from 2C’s), a pair of MIT AVt-2’s, a REGA Apollo CD player (with MIT coax interconnect) feeding a now new Marantz 7702MKII, followed by Audioquest "Water" balanced interconnects to the amp....

As a very (extremely(?)) brief summary, I have been dabbling in this lower end of high-end audio since the late 80’s, and I am beyond anal in mechanics, technical execution, to the point L I S T E N I N G to the "music" over technical merits listening is at best RARE.

So here is the extremely short summary of a McCormack 0.5.modded by SMc-Audio "Gold(+) edition" amp: For the first time in 30+ years, this amp, in that system was "so good", that I actually L I S T E N E D to the "music", instead of critically "anal-i-zing" system performance. The amp was "sooo good" that it for the first time made it about listening to MUSIC instead of analytical "Sterophile" like "auditioning".

If you think you might ever like to actually, and just "listen to MUSIC", buy a freaking McCormmack DNA amp, get it modded... and "listen to MUSIC", it’s that simple, it’s that good. The amp lifted a 30 year curse of endless ANALytcal auditioning, and MADE *MUSIC* (I am certain, thanks to Vandersteen Quatros, etc.)

@kmckenn You are absolutely spot on about what SMc Audio can do with a DNA series amp. And yes, it beckons you to relax and listen to the music for the music’s sake.🎼

What to do next? Get yourself an Omega E-Mat to put inside the door of your electrical service. It "conditions" for lack of a better word, the electricity in your home dropping the noise floor of your audio and video systems. It is remarkable! Search for the thread here about the Omega E-Mat and you can read about the experience of many users.