Damping Factor?

[sarc22 10+ year member]

I know a little about damping factor basically the definition. I see some amps rate damping factor at 20hz and some at 100hz is their a way to equal the playing field when comparing these as one amp manufacturer states >400@20hz and another states >100@100hz. Which is better? I know normally for this spec bigger is better but when throwing in the frequency //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif .

Any help is appreciated,

Scott

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[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

You can generally ignore damping factor as a spec of comparison.

About the only time you'll have audible issues with damping is when dealing with tube amps. For most solid state amps, damping is a point of non-issue.

Damping factor is not a "bigger is better" type spec. Once the damping factor is adequate to not cause audible change....that's it, it's sufficient. Having a higher damping factor will yield zero audible improvement. This point is generally considered to be around 20.

So....all else equal; If one amp has a Damping factor of 100 and another a damping factor of 1000.....which one will sound better? The answer; Neither. They'll sound exactly the same.

Another thing to keep in mind that is CEA-2006 compliant amplifiers rate the damping factor on a completely different method than a "standard" measure.....so if you see a CEA-2006 compliant amplifier with a stupid low damping factor such as 6.87 don't fret....it doesn't mean it will sound worse. It was just measured differently, hence isn't directly comparable to any of the above mentioned measurements.

 

[sarc22 10+ year member]

Thank You!!!

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

Another thing to keep in mind that is CEA-2006 compliant amplifiers rate the damping factor on a completely different method than a "standard" measure.....so if you see a CEA-2006 compliant amplifier with a stupid low damping factor such as 6.87 don't fret....it doesn't mean it will sound worse. It was just measured differently, hence isn't directly comparable to any of the above mentioned measurements.

Yeah, thanx. I was wondering that about those ratings myself.