Damping factor does not play much of a role in the sound of a speaker, previous posts notwithstanding! In fact damping factor is really a spec that gets touted a lot, but would seem to be mythological in its effects.
Damping factor is a means of expressing the output impedance of an amplifier. It is true that as the output impedance of the amp gets closer to the load impedance, that distortion rises, but the idea that the amp 'looses control' of the speaker is a myth, really a sort of chicken and egg thing.
In a conventional speaker, the voice coil requires a certain amount of power in order to displace the speaker. Any amp, regardless of its 'damping factor' that can make the power can displace the cone the same amount. At any and *ALL* cone positions that are possible, the cone will be in that position *because of the power from the amplifier directing it to that position*.
Note also that all bass waveforms (where 'damping factor' is touted as an issue) are real-world mathematical functions, and therefore continuous in nature. The are no worries about 'stopping' and 'starting'- unless you listen to some very weird, amusical stuff that no-body has made up yet :)
Most speakers if heavily damped will in fact not be able to reproduce the bass waveform. This is one of the reasons that high damping factor amplifiers tend to be bass shy, while at the same time having a sort of 'punch' but being otherwise bereft of bass definition and tone. Problematic, as amplifiers with a high output impedance can on some speakers fail to cut power in the frequency band where the speaker/cabinet system develops resonance.
How is this solved? It turns out that there are 2 paradigms of design, test and measurement in competition in the world of audio today. *IF* you mix equipment from one paradigm with that of the other, you will have a mismatch- it will not work right. see:
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html
for a more in-depth explanation of the differences in these paradigms.
BTW there are tube amps with full power to 1Hz and able to reproduce 20Hz square waves with no measurable tilt. This bandwidth has nothing to do with power or output impedance FWIW.
Damping factor is a means of expressing the output impedance of an amplifier. It is true that as the output impedance of the amp gets closer to the load impedance, that distortion rises, but the idea that the amp 'looses control' of the speaker is a myth, really a sort of chicken and egg thing.
In a conventional speaker, the voice coil requires a certain amount of power in order to displace the speaker. Any amp, regardless of its 'damping factor' that can make the power can displace the cone the same amount. At any and *ALL* cone positions that are possible, the cone will be in that position *because of the power from the amplifier directing it to that position*.
Note also that all bass waveforms (where 'damping factor' is touted as an issue) are real-world mathematical functions, and therefore continuous in nature. The are no worries about 'stopping' and 'starting'- unless you listen to some very weird, amusical stuff that no-body has made up yet :)
Most speakers if heavily damped will in fact not be able to reproduce the bass waveform. This is one of the reasons that high damping factor amplifiers tend to be bass shy, while at the same time having a sort of 'punch' but being otherwise bereft of bass definition and tone. Problematic, as amplifiers with a high output impedance can on some speakers fail to cut power in the frequency band where the speaker/cabinet system develops resonance.
How is this solved? It turns out that there are 2 paradigms of design, test and measurement in competition in the world of audio today. *IF* you mix equipment from one paradigm with that of the other, you will have a mismatch- it will not work right. see:
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html
for a more in-depth explanation of the differences in these paradigms.
BTW there are tube amps with full power to 1Hz and able to reproduce 20Hz square waves with no measurable tilt. This bandwidth has nothing to do with power or output impedance FWIW.