An interesting article on "damping factor" on the Benchmark site, but here's an interactive calculator you can use to see your actual damping factor as well as the actual error from the deigned frequency response of your speakers. It really highlights how cables can have an audible affect as well as why some amp/speaker combos "work" while others do not.
In my case, my amp's damping factor is listed as 60 (The Benchmark amp is over 300), which is pretty poor. But, since I have short, low-resistance cables, my error across the audio band is only 0.11dB. A damping factor of 270 or higher would be ideal, and limit error to 0.02dB. Note this does not account for phase variation, which can be much worse than the level variance, and also more detrimental to audio reproduction accuracy.
It's an excel file that I can't upload... Contact me if interested in it, or check Benchmark website: Audio Myth - "Damping Factor Isn't Much of a Factor" - Benchmark Media Systems
In my case, my amp's damping factor is listed as 60 (The Benchmark amp is over 300), which is pretty poor. But, since I have short, low-resistance cables, my error across the audio band is only 0.11dB. A damping factor of 270 or higher would be ideal, and limit error to 0.02dB. Note this does not account for phase variation, which can be much worse than the level variance, and also more detrimental to audio reproduction accuracy.
It's an excel file that I can't upload... Contact me if interested in it, or check Benchmark website: Audio Myth - "Damping Factor Isn't Much of a Factor" - Benchmark Media Systems