damping factor

I usually don't like talking specs, just because of issues like this... Think about how much damping factor measurements can change depending on where you measure from. What if you measure at the output, what if you measure at the speaker? How can two amps have great bass control with one having a damping factor of 50 or 100 and the other at 400 or even 1000.... For me, even though this is a very legitamate questions, its useless, you've got to plug the thing in and take a listen. By the way, Slew rate is just as important(the amps ability to recover after a hard bass note). Good Listening, Tim

Hi Bombaywall,
Of course you are correct that woofer size has nothing to do with damping factor, but not everyone on Agon knows much about it, thats why this section says "learn". I still appreciate Elizabeth giving a very non technical breakdown of terms. I try to do the same, sometimes it is nearly impossible to explain technical terms in a non technical way. Normally she comes very close to getting it right and normally conveys the correct idea, which I think is what she is after. Overall I have always felt she does a good job and I'm sure people that didn't always get the technical explanations appreciated what she had to say.

Sorry guys, had family over last night, just picked up on the thread. Here is my attempt to explain Q in easy terms. A driver has 3 Q ratings, QMS, QES and QTS.
QMS is a drivers Quality Mechanical Speaker... It is the mechanical resistance that particular driver gives or how much mechanical loss that driver has, QES is the drivers Quality Electrical Speaker, it tells us how the driver electrically generates its strength from the magnet and voice coil assembly. These two measurements combined tell us a driver QTS (the summed total of the two) FS, the drivers resonance, QTS, a drivers summed Q and VAS, the Equivalent air volume tell us what type a box a driver needs to be in. QTC mentioned above is typically used to describe a sealed box design. It does tell us how a woofer is damped in a sealed box. .707 is a perfectly flat curve rolling off at its maximum 3db downpoint and is what we think of as being perfectly damped.
I'll leave it at that for now, if someone wants more post it in the speaker forum. Tim