Amp damping factor: How important?

Hi,

Maybe one of you audio experts can help me out here.

I'm thinking of buying one of two older power amps.
One is 70s vintage and has a damping factor of 14 or greater.
The other is 80s vintage and has damping factor of 30+.
The newer one is 500 wpc. The older has 300 wpc.
I've read reviews that say the older of the two is more desirable
as it has a much warmer sound (both are solid state).

The amp I end up with will drive a pair of vintage AR9s which need a 9+ damping factor.

Which way do I go?

PS: the amps in question are both McIntosh, MC2300 vs MC2500.

 

Although not specific to your amplifiers, this link may help you: http://www.qscaudio.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000324

My conclusion after reading it would be, pick the amp that works best in your system (assuming you can audition it there) since it includes your speakers and cables.

John K.

 

IMO higher dampening = tighter bass

 

"real" damping factor

This post *really* doesn't mean to sound snobbish.....

What is alleged to be called damping factor in amplifiers by those manufacturers that bother to list such stuff is meaningless, both electrically and acousitically.
Acoustically - there is no corelation between listed damping factor and sound quality. I am certain that you can find many amps with different damping factors that do indeed seem to have a corelationship to the sound. It's by accident, trust me.
Electrically - Get a copy of Audio Encyclopedia. Look up damping factor formula. Do some math. Note that the numbers that manufacturers publish have no relationship to the formula listed. Wonder why for awhile. Then try this - calculate damping factor three different ways.
1. The amps hooked up to the speakers and the speakers hooked up to the amps. I.E. just like you ran the numbers the first time.
2. The amps hooked up to the speakers but with the speakers NOT hooked up to the amps.
(yeah I know, just do the math - after all, phasor calculations for the angle/time difference between voltage and amperage depends on the use of i (square root of negative one) and you sure can't calculate the square root of negative one on a slide rule!)
3. The amps NOT hooked up to the speakers, but with the speakers hooked up to the amps.
Get the picture now? Okay, damping factor is bull****, right?
Besides, you use the amp to amplify musical waveforms not sinewaves. You use the signal to power loudspeakers, not load resistors that have zero inductance and zero capacitance whose resistance is linear from 2 Hz to 200 kHz, right?
What you HEAR in an audio system is what is important, specs are meaningless. Specs can't predict good sound and only sometimes predicts bad sound.
If a model can not predict the future, it is worthless whether we are talking about sound reproduction, economics, or the weather.

 

Here's another link that gives some examples/calculations: http://www.trueaudio.com/post_013.htm

His argument is basically the same as the QSC guys: how the amp performs in your particular system has little to do with what the damping factor spec. is.

John K.

 

IMO as referred by a audio expert the B&K ST140 has a high dampening factor and will have tighter bass in a reflex speaker. "It keeps the woofer from flopping around and keeps it tight" I have a bunch of amps and they all actually sound different. I prefer the ESS 500w channel into 4 ohm version so far. Possibly similar to the Threshold amps due to the same designer - so I am told. I do have more comparisons to do...

 

According to my books, the damping factor of the amplifier is meaningless because in the "real world" the interconnect cables are going to have the biggest effect on cone motion.

 

No. It is a characteristic that has an impact on sound. But I know of no commercial amp made in the last 35 years that does not have an adequate dampening factor to make any consideration of it moot at best.

Richard.

 

It has no relevance.