Sometimes I read that in analog filter design, component spread is a figure of merit. The lower the better.
What is the advantage (or disadvantage) of having a low (high) component spread?
The only limit I see for components value, is that an actual component with that value must exist. But I don't see how component spread could affect this. What's there to consider?
Note: I consider component spread as \$ C_{max}/C_{min} \$ where \$C_{max}\$ is the maximum value of the capacitors in the filter, while \$C_{min}\$ is the minimum value. The same goes for resistors and inductors. I'm not sure if any mixed component spread may be meaningful.
EDIT1
From the comments/answers I would like to precise that:
- I've got passive filters in mind, like an LC ladder structure or any other standard implementation;
- You can neglect any loading effects on the load or any effects of the source connected to the filter. We can just consider any transfer function (i.e. something independent from the source and the load) and then, among the many implementations of the same transfer function, the filter with the lower component spread (defined as above) is the best one. (of course, there are many other figures of merits in a filter, but we want to limit the analysis to this one).
This is how I interpreted the fact that component spread is a figure of merit in filters, but I don't understand the disadvantages of having it high.