Amplifiers and Damping Factor

Hi Emerson,

This thread will take some time to read through, but I think you'll find it to be informative.

Best regards,
-- Al

This is not a simple question; the damping factor should be high enough to control the movement of the woofer; if it is not then it will exhibit "loose" uncontrolled bass rather than "tight" bass. There are many factors that determine what is "enough" damping factor, the design of the amp, the design of the speakers, their interaction etc. Transistors typically have a much higher damping factor than tube amps, many find them "tighter" others find tube bass "more natural". The best answer is that there very good amps with a high damping factor and very good ones with a lower one. The whole thing comes down to system matching, it has to be high enough to make YOUR system work, that will vary in every case.

speaker / amp matching is key.
Proper speakers for tubes will have good bass as will proper speakers for SS.
Speaker 'Q' is not talked about much but also plays into the equation. A speaker of 'Q'>1.2 or so will be sloppy no matter how high the DF. A critically damped speaker of 'Q'=0.7 probably doesn't need such hi damping.

DF became an issue during the transition from big, highly sensitive speakers driven by a few tube watts to the 'tiny' (by comparison) speakers of today which require more power, both by sensitivity and phase angle of load.