The idea of damping factor having an effect on the sound of a speaker is mostly myth. However, it is a bit tricky seperating myth from reality. Here's what is really going on:
Almost any amplifier driving a speaker will have an output impedance that is lower than the speaker, but the important thing to understand is that the speaker is reproducing signals from the amp. As the output impedance of the amplifier approaches the impedance of the speaker, the distortion of the amplifier rises. It is this increase in distortion that accounts for the muddy sound that results- the so-called 'loss of control'. IOW the amplifier does not 'loose control', it simply distorts more.
To really understand why this is so, you have to understand the fundamental operating principle of the speaker itself. When the amplifier puts power through the voice coil, the result is that the diaphragm is deflected. The deflection is related to the power that the amplifier is making at that instant. As the amplifier makes more and less power, both positive and negative, the speaker diaphragm follows the waveform of power presented to its voice coil.
IOW the diaphragm is powered **all the way** through the amplified waveform. There is no place at all where the amplifier 'lets go' of the speaker. In understanding of this fact is also the understanding of why 'damping factor' is one of the more misunderstood myths of audio.
Almost any amplifier driving a speaker will have an output impedance that is lower than the speaker, but the important thing to understand is that the speaker is reproducing signals from the amp. As the output impedance of the amplifier approaches the impedance of the speaker, the distortion of the amplifier rises. It is this increase in distortion that accounts for the muddy sound that results- the so-called 'loss of control'. IOW the amplifier does not 'loose control', it simply distorts more.
To really understand why this is so, you have to understand the fundamental operating principle of the speaker itself. When the amplifier puts power through the voice coil, the result is that the diaphragm is deflected. The deflection is related to the power that the amplifier is making at that instant. As the amplifier makes more and less power, both positive and negative, the speaker diaphragm follows the waveform of power presented to its voice coil.
IOW the diaphragm is powered **all the way** through the amplified waveform. There is no place at all where the amplifier 'lets go' of the speaker. In understanding of this fact is also the understanding of why 'damping factor' is one of the more misunderstood myths of audio.