highest damping factor amp

Back EMF causes current flow in opposite direction to one that would cause motion of the membrane in given direction.  This current will produce force moving membrane in opposite direction - braking movement completely, like shorted motor.  Except, it is not completely shorted - voice coil impedance is in series with it.

Resistive impedance of the speaker's voice coil is about 2/3 of the rated impedance.  Since this resistance is in series with the back EMF it will reduce overall damping factor to 1.5 max.  We don't want to make it much worse than that, but DF=15 amp would make it only 10% worse.

DF specification might be important for other reasons but for the reason of the damping is pretty much useless.

check this
http://www.bcae1.com/dampfact.htm
 i myself use crown k2

df 3000
wire length 3 ft
wire awg 2/0

damping result 2711the k2 is now installed on the subs side with the terminals close to the driver terminals

You don't need a high damping factor to control TAD woofers. My amp has a very low damping factor and works great with the dual TAD 15" woofers (1602s) in my system. Now they are in series for a 16 ohm load, so nearly anything can drive them. And they are very satisfying as they go to 20Hz in my system :)
If you wire them in parallel, **any** solid state amp that can make a few watts and many tube amps will drive them just fine.

Now if you over damp them by using an amplifier with a very high damping factor, you'll actually get less bass and no definition. There aren't any speakers out there that really need more than about 20:1 damping factor. IOW, the damping factor thing is a bit over-rated. What you really need is the amp's ability to make power, and with the efficiency of the TADs, that really isn't all that hard.

check this
http://www.bcae1.com/dampfact.htm
 i myself use crown k2

df 3000
wire lenght 3 ft
wire awg 2/0

damping result 2711the k2 is now intalled on the subs side with the terminals close to the driver terminals

Don't know the damping factor of the Aleph 3, it's just a high quality small SS amp. Other's to consider: Bedini 25/25; BEL 1001; Bryston 2b; ????? I like the Eagle 2 idea, thanks. There's a new amp from JOB that's TINY in size physically and 50 watts.

I didn't know the Aleph 3 had a very high damping factor. What is it?

Perhaps the best little woofer amp ever made is the Electron Kinetics Eagle 2.

Thanks for the reply. The Crown amp you mentioned is the highest I've ever heard of too. It's too big for what I need. Twin TAD 15inch drivers that are 97db efficient each. I don't need much power, just control. Was thinking Aleph 3's.

And also, the amp with the highest damping factor I've heard of is the Crown Macro Reference, at about 20,000. I've heard that the Wolcott tube amps supposedly have an "infinitely" high damping factor, but I don't believe it. Physics doesn't allow for anything humans have done to be infinite...just a reality check.

You'd have to check all the specs, perhaps directly from the manufacturer. A few of the "Audio" buyer's guides have published damping factor, but sometimes it's hard to find. In my experience, amps that use bipolar output transistors must use a whole lot of them to achieve a better damping factor. Wheras, with MOSFETS, it's easy to achieve high damping, even with a lower current amplifier design. I decided the sound of mine, with its specialized Motorola bipolars, was the best amp I could get for the money...even though its damping factor is only around 50. Anyway, with a biamped setup, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding what you're looking for, and making it work.