Ohm Walsh Micro Talls: who's actually heard 'em?

I'm reading Crown XLS amp IS Class D. Don't know much more about them though. Might be a good value + worth a try. Crown is mostly used for pro audio applications these days but home audio use should be possible. They use older Crown amps at my gym for classes + such.

I have a question for the inveterate amp swappers out there. What effect, if any, does a higher damping factor have on Ohm Walsh performance?

Rather than opt for massive power increases, could one get the same/similar (or different) improvements in the drivers' sound quality through an amp with more damping? Alternatively, is higher power somehow the functional equivalent of a higher damping factor?

I've got a vintage Sansui with 90 (honest, conservatively rated) wpc, and a damping factor of 100. I'm thinking of using it as a pre-amp and running it into a NAD power amp with 125 (also honest) wpc but a damping factor of > 200. I'm not sure the difference in watts would make that much difference, and the Sansui is a much, much faster amp. I'd like to hear some opinions as to whether it would be worthwhile before I lug that NAD beast upstairs and hook it up.

JWC,

Higher damping and higher power are two different beasts, though the two might go hand in hand practically in many cases.

My experience with the larger OHM 5s is that they benefit from both high damping and high power and high current as well. All may often go hand in hand practically with most amps.

Damping is needed to keep dynamic drivers under control to various extents. Some drivers are more highly damped already. Walsh drivers in particular seem to loosen up over time more so than most and benefit highly from higher amplifier damping factors. The vertical mount of a Walsh driver and the increased effects of gravity accordingly might have something to do with this.

In practice, effectiveness of amp damping factors >50 or so is questionable. However, I have found with teh larger OHMs, where low end bass levels are seldom an issue, that more damping is always a good thing in terms of lower distortion and better dynamics and speed in general, ie a lean and mean bass as opposed to a fatter less refined delivery. The amps I prefer with my larger OHM 5s have 1000 damping factor. I have used other amps with 50 or less damping factor (also less power) and can hear the difference even at modest volumes.

Smaller OHM drivers benefit somewhat less from massive power and damping than larger models, but these things are still of benefit I would say, at least up to the point where a combo of high damping and smaller driver negatively affects bass levels, though I am not sure I have experienced that myself practically, even with my smaller OHM 100 driver based speakers. I would say that with the smaller drivers, cases where users prefer less damping in the amp might become more common, depending on preference, room acoustics, and other factors.

ALso I should note that the benefits of higher damping with the OHMs may be most apparent with the bass, but higher frquencies including all frequencies up to 7Khz or so handled by the vertically mounted Walsh driver part of the OHM CLS benefit with lower distortion and greater articulation and rendering of detail as well I would say.

So i did buy the parasound amp and all i can say is now i understand why more power sounds even better with the ohms. The music just sounds so effortless and the bass from this 2000 driver sounds amazing that i turn off my subwoofer.

The mosfet design of the amp somehow smoothens the highs but you dont get fatigue out of it. On the other hand the niles amp sounds more forward and i feel that there is more of a realism like the raspiness and chestiness of the voice. Overall i prefer the mosfet sound better as i can listen to it all day.