Anything as " fast" as SPECTRAL gear?


(My 90's vintage still sounds good with very good (no -exceptional) isolation and conditioning. (Sound Application, Equitech & MIT). SPECTRAL claims faster today. OK. Mid 90's hot cars went 205-210, todays 210-220. Does it make any difference to the music?
ptss
Psag. Our departed Harry Pearson gave them all the guide. Be part of a system reproducing the sound of orchestral instruments as heard live.
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Wow, very interesting reading in this post. Better than most!
I don't know what "Fast Gear" is. I would steer away from such terms.
Low noise, low distortion. That's what sounds good.
As for transient response, that's what it's all about. Laplace showed that awhile ago.
Steady state is dead when it comes to music!
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@Mapman ... I seem to recall Ralph (Atmasphere) posted comments some years back about the impact and import of high damping factors (DF) on woofer control. DF, of course is simply speaker impedance at a particular frequency (usually in the bass range), divided by the amp's output impedance at the same frequency. 
I'm just enjoying warm brandy and reviewing this old thread--and this statement confuses me. If it's correct how can an amplifier have a DF in its specs?
Ptss, amplifier damping factor is usually specified based on the assumption that speaker impedance is 8 ohms. So:

DF = (8 ohms)/(output impedance, expressed in ohms)

and equivalently,

Output impedance (expressed in ohms) = (8 ohms)/DF

As you can see, DF itself is not measured in ohms or any other units, being a ratio of two quantities that are measured in ohms.

In the case of tube amps that have output transformers and provide both 4 ohm and 8 ohm taps, DF is sometimes specified separately for the 4 ohm tap. Although the 4 ohm and 8 ohm DF’s will usually not be greatly different, as the output impedance of the 4 ohm tap can be expected, roughly speaking, to usually be in the general vicinity of half of the output impedance of the 8 ohm tap.

Regarding the frequency upon which the specified DF is based, it probably doesn’t matter in most cases because in contrast to speaker impedances amplifier output impedance will not usually vary enough over the frequency range to matter.

Enjoy the brandy! Best regards,
-- Al