First foray into separate 2-channel amp, 200wpc

Sounds like a nice amp but isn't that way over your price range of $350-450 or did you get a bargoon? I was going to suggest the Yamaha P-S Series:

http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/global/en/products/poweramps/ps_series/specifications.jsp

The P2500S and P3500S are in your price range new. They are powerful, cheap, reliable, sound good and run quiet without fan noise. Later you could get balanced preamp or DAC and run balanced.

Buying new with warranty means you don't have to worry too much about recapping costs, amp drifting out of spec, humming transformers, solder joints going bad, etc. Not sure if you would like the sound better or worse since I haven't compared directly to DNA-1.

Mtrot,
So what's your experience with the McCormack DNA-1 RevA ???

"Waterzlife
Mtrot,
So what's your experience with the McCormack DNA-1 RevA ???"

Well, that's a long story. I had bought the DNA-1 here on Audiogon last December, but shortly after hooking it up, it blew up. I think something was amiss with the amp from the start, because even when I first hooked it up, it produced a horrible raspy, scratching sound from the speakers. And upon turning it off and on, both would produce a huge pop from the speakers. Now, I did use Goertz MI-2 Veracity speaker cables, and failed to connect the Zobel networks, which I am told could destabilize wide bandwidth amps.

So, I sent the amp off for repair to SMC Audio in January, where it stayed for about 6 months. Apparently a lot of stuff blew out, and there was a lot of difficulty in repairing it for a reasonable price.

I just finally got the amp back last week, and have only done limited listening to the amp, but I do think it sounds pretty good. I actually am not now using the DNA-1 with the Yamaha receiver, but rather I have swapped out the DNA-1 with a Sherbourn 5/1500A multi-channel power amp that was in the family room, with my Onkyo NR-809 Receiver as a pre-pro. It was immediately apparent that the DNA-1 has a greater bandwidth than the Sherbourn. There is just a greater sense of "presence" of the music or dialog, more clarity. One area I think may be sounding significantly better than with the Sherbourn is vocals, which seem very tonally nice and enjoyable. Instruments just have more of a "signature" to them, if that makes any sense.

I have not played enough dynamic content yet to tell anything about dynamics or bass impact, compared to the Sherbourn. But I will soon be cranking up some jazz, classical, and movies to find out.

This thread has some longevity but caught my eye because I was in the same situation with the same Yamaha AVR - still have my V1800 as the center of my HT system.

I went with an external amp from my 2-channel rig - Carver m-1.0t with gobs of power.

Did it make a difference? Yup - sure did.

Did I stay satisfied? Nope - cuz an AVR will always be a compromise sonically, imo as a pre.

So, I went with a hybrid setup - kept the AVR, but added an integrated amp with HT Bypass.

Consider that....