Pbb, I'm with you brother! Here we go again, Slam by whose standard. One mans slam is another mans flab! An amp is suppose to reproduce the source---exactly. If it doesn't, then it is a coloration. The problem is, who has ever heard a source "Perfectly" reproduced? I guess if we can come up with a definitive definition of slam then we can go from there.
amplifier's "slam-factor"
I wonder if anyone can explain me why there are differences in the so called "slam-factor" between different amplifiers (with comparable power ratings). It is well known that for example Krell amplifiers have a high slam-factor, while Mark Levinson amplifiers are quite tame in comparison, even the most powerful ones (> 300 watts per channel). Spectral amplifiers are very fast regarding signal amplification and transmission, but I find them not very "powerful" sounding (high slam-factor), assuming speed is one of the factors which determine whether an amplifier has a high slam-factor or not.