Here's a link you may find useful, that relates directly to the matter of damping factor and matching the amp and the speaker for optimal operation:
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html
There is no speaker made that requires more than 20:1 for a damping factor, and there are speakers that prefer a damping factor of 1:10 (usually high efficiency full-range speakers). If a speaker is over-damped it will produce less bass and what bass there is will be tight and 'punchy', without much in the way of definition. When the speaker is properly damped not only will you have impact but you also get definition.
If the speaker is under-damped, many people assume that the loss of control by the amplifier is responsible for muddiness, but this is not true. What is really happening is that the amplifier has a high output impedance relative to the speaker, and is making excess distortion, which is interpreted as a loss of control.
The size of the woofer cone has absolutely no bearing on how well the amplifier will be able to damp the speaker. The idea that the cone size makes a difference is a common myth.
One other myth is the idea that the amplifier has to be able to 'stop' the speaker as well as get it started. It turns out that this issue is minor- if you look at any audio waveform, you will see that they don't require this of the amp and speaker to any great degree.
The only area where this really comes into play is 'overshoot'- the idea that the cone will move too far on transient peaks. But most cones will see a fair amount of mechanical damping coming from their own suspension on transients, and when an amplifier is reproducing a transient its damping factor will be higher than the that same amplifier's damping factor will be at rest; this is really not much of a problem!
http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/paradigm_paper2.html
There is no speaker made that requires more than 20:1 for a damping factor, and there are speakers that prefer a damping factor of 1:10 (usually high efficiency full-range speakers). If a speaker is over-damped it will produce less bass and what bass there is will be tight and 'punchy', without much in the way of definition. When the speaker is properly damped not only will you have impact but you also get definition.
If the speaker is under-damped, many people assume that the loss of control by the amplifier is responsible for muddiness, but this is not true. What is really happening is that the amplifier has a high output impedance relative to the speaker, and is making excess distortion, which is interpreted as a loss of control.
The size of the woofer cone has absolutely no bearing on how well the amplifier will be able to damp the speaker. The idea that the cone size makes a difference is a common myth.
One other myth is the idea that the amplifier has to be able to 'stop' the speaker as well as get it started. It turns out that this issue is minor- if you look at any audio waveform, you will see that they don't require this of the amp and speaker to any great degree.
The only area where this really comes into play is 'overshoot'- the idea that the cone will move too far on transient peaks. But most cones will see a fair amount of mechanical damping coming from their own suspension on transients, and when an amplifier is reproducing a transient its damping factor will be higher than the that same amplifier's damping factor will be at rest; this is really not much of a problem!