2. amps-preamps
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Damping factor or watts?

Hi all,

Which is more important? High damping factor or high wattage? I was reading about how a high damping factor would be better in controlling the excursions of the speaker drivers but to have a amp with high wattage and damping factor would be astronomically expensive.

So in our imperfect world, which is more important? It seems like the amps with a high damping factor are mainly Class D or ICEpower amps (are they both the same?).

My speaker is a Magnepan MMG and is currently partnered to a pair of Denon POA-6600A monoblocks that are 260W/ 8 ohms. I have read some Audiogon citizens driving their Maggies with amps that have high damping factor to excellent results. Wondering if that should be the direction to go....

Your advise would be greatly appreciated!

HL
hlgoh2006

Showing 1 response by gregm

gregm
3,411 posts
 
There are reasons (immaterial here) why some ribbon devices may sound slightly better with a medium DF than an extremely high one -- hence the use by some of tube amps.

Otherwise, your system looks fine on screen -- so the problem must be in the listening! What's bugging you?
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