What does it do ? Some amps are rated at 200 others at 100. Can anyone explain this to me ? Thank you.

 

When a speaker's cone is driven to oscillation by an amplifier's output signal it will tend to continue oscillating after the note is over. The speaker is dissipating energy which is stored in it's suspension and the mass of the moving parts. Think of a weight suspended by a spring, you pull it down and let it go. It will continue to bounce for some time. This is energy storage. The short version of damping factor: the ability of an amplifier to control this oscillation and bring it quickly to zero.

Some people think of amplifiers having high damping factors as having an iron grip on the motion of the cone, forcing it to track the music program perfectly. In truth this is just not true as the kinetic energy stored in the speaker dominates and any damping factor above ~200 is getting into the realm of diminishing returns. Furthermore, the total system damping factor is your true damping factor. It takes into account the resistance in the speaker wires and the connections. Advertised damping factor is a good spec for comparing amps but it should not be the most important factor.

In my opinion when amps have damping factors above 200 we shouldn't even bother comparing damping factor specs. I'd rather have a better crossover or more power. Almost all modern amps use global negative feedback which makes it easy to achieve high damping factors. This is why you'll see amps with advertised damping factors of 500 or more. Hope this helps

 

Thank you for a great answer. I really appreciate!

 

double blind ABX testing has shown differences in damping factor arn't audible until you get into the single digits.

For the most part its a spec you can ignor.

 

Both responses are bang on

 

damping factor only counts when it is "effective damping".....

the only way to acheive a true high effective damping is with the aid of an
active servo system.....

there are VERY few car audio amplifiers even made that have a true effective damping
factor even worth talking about.....and the ones that do have it cost alotta $$$$$