PS AUDIO: The cure can be worse than the disease

Paul McGowan writes:

In our comments about amplifier damping and how higher damping factors offer better control of the loudspeaker than that of low damping factors, several of you wrote suggesting that some high damping amps sound cold while the opposite can also apply.

This observation has merit but the conclusion that better control of the loudspeaker means colder sound and therefore should be avoided is misplaced.  The reason some amps with good control sound cold isn’t a consequence of their level of control but how that control was achieved.

It used to be standard procedure to add a lot of negative feedback to increase the damping factor – the use of high negative feedback has often results in cold and hard sonic qualities if not done properly.  So the cure is worse than the disease.

Properly implemented good loudspeaker control is always preferable to poor control.

You just have to make sure the cure isn’t worse than the disease.

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