Looking at the specs for these two different amps, I was surprised to find that the damping factor for the mono blocs only had a damping factor of 200 while the S300 amp with far less output/power exhibits a damping factor of 550.
Why such a large divergent between the two, and why would the more powerful amp have such a small value. Its always been my understanding that amps with large damping factors are a good thing in order to control the speakers better. Or perhaps I’m missing something.
Damping factor is merely the number 8 (the nominal 8 ohm impedance of a typical speaker, ignoring the effect of the speaker cable) divided by the output impedance of the amp. A damping factor in the hundreds is silly high.
I wasn’t trying to imply that the output power had any direct correlation to the damping factor, obviously I’m not an EE. But it is worth noting that the vast majority of amps with high power output do possess a damping factor often greater than 500 ± including the S300 as well as the BHK amps and many others.