Power Amps with High Current or High Damping

Krell_man, thanks for the info. I have already been in contact with Gary, great guy and I look forward to hearing the Karan gear in my set-up. Not knowing anything about the gear it's self it's always nice to get feedback from others like your self, it be good or bad. I didn't contact Tonypdp1 out of courtesy due to the fact that some don't like being contacted asking question specially when they are trying sell their gear off and it is apparent that he has now been trying for some time to do so including his MBL's. I would want to hear the Burmester in my system prior to purchasing along with purchasing them in away that I would have a warranty due to the fact of the cost factor, 2 amps big $$$ layout. Do you know Tony.

I have not actually seen the Burmester product in person but the pics I have seen the product sure looks like eye candy which is always a bonus.

I see you got rid of your AA gear and went with Wadia, was there a reason why you didn't move up the AA line. My current AA is the Hybrid Tube Dac which is a great pce paired up with the latest Oracle 2000 trans. via Stealth AES digital connection.

Dev,

No, I don't know Tony. I just saw his ad.

I left the Accustic Arts digital for three reasons.

1. The man who upgraded my speakers and his partner suggested that I switch to the new Wadia 581 se, and then run it straight into a power amp. I have great respect for both of them, so I did it blindly. It's one of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten.

2. Brian Ackerman told me that the jump from the DAC 1 Mk 3 to the Mk 4 was a really good jump, but the Mk 4 jump to the Tube DAC wasn't worth the extra $4,000.00 unless money was of no concern to me.

3. One AA transport, one AA DAC, one Stealth Varidig Sextet balanced digital cable and two Dream State power cords, that's $20,000.00. The Wadia 581 se and one Silent Source power cord, that's $10,500.00. And to me, the Wadia blows the AA pieces that I had, as good as the whole setup was, completely out of the water. You have to hear it to understand how much better the Wadia 581 se is, plus it can be upgraded to the 781 se (when the se model is released).

I didn't sell the Karan integrated because I wasn't happy with it, I just needed a really, really fast and good power amp to mate with the Wadia. I bought the Burmester for less than the Karan that's here on Audiogon. Either one would have been fine with me.

Chuck

Damping factor is a highly over rated spec. Krell amps have low damping factors but no one considers them poor in regard to bass control. High current is a consideration.

What is an example of "high" current (spec-wise) vs. not?
I'd like to know if my amp is high current.

I think that you are onto the correct parameter but in an indirect sort of way. Damping factor, simplistically, is the ratio of (real part of the) speaker impedance to (the real part of the) amplifier output impedance. Remember that speaker impedance is variable over frequency so DF does not remain 1 fixed #. Unless the power amp output impedance is very low & well-controlled (sign of a robust power supply, which makes the amp cost sky-rocket), the amp output impedance is also variable over freq. So, you have both numr & denr varying over freq! Often you'll see lower DF as you come down in freq (often amp spec sheets show DF at 1KHz) that read in the range of just 10. So, the very large #s you have cited from spec sheets are essentially meaningless - they are probably measured with a non-reactive load (which is not what a loudspeaker is!).

I believe that you improved when you switched to the Karan amp is the amplifier output impedance - I get this feeling due to your comment "Karan took a hold of the speakers and made them play whatever it was sending". When the impedances are correct in the amp-speaker interface this is what the listener usually reports back.
One of the possible reasons for this is that the Karan amp has a much better power supply (lower impedance) & probably has more # of power transistors in the output stage (lower impedance) &/or higher current power transistors (more current delivery capability).