in reading a recent issue of Hifi World (England) the point that naim amps, while formidable, have a damping factor of 14 whilst American amps are usually known for highish damping factors. what are the implications of such?
Low damping means high output impedance so the sound is more influenced by the load (speaker). I remember reading that over about 20 or so it may not matter but it depends upon the speaker, of course.
- With a high-impedance speaker it probably does not matter.
- With a lower-impedance speaker but one that has relatively flat impedance over frequency it should not matter much, just a gain loss.
- With a speaker that has fairly wide impedance variation, which describes many if not most speakers, the frequency response is now a function of the amplifier's ability to drive it.
The other player is controlling the speaker cones or panels; low damping/high amplifier output impedance means more potential ringing or worse transient (time domain) response.
Post here showing the impact of amplifier interaction with loudspeakers: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...ponses-into-Speaker-Loads&p=139289#post139289
Audibility is in the ears of the listener. Some may like the sound of less (or more) control, and in some systems in may not matter.
IME/IMO/etc. - Don
VTL's larger amplifiers allow the user to adjust output impedance. So preference is definitely part of the equation.
Don,
Although the variation of frequency response versus output impedance is well understood and documented, the "controlling the speaker cones or panels" should be considered with some caution, as referred by some authors - see this excerpt of the Audio Power Amplifier Design Handbook by Douglas Self. I read the Moir paper "Transients and damping in amplifiers" in Wireless World long ago, but unfortunately do not have easy access to it anymore.
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