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Do Harbeth speakers really need a 4000 damping factor?

Just got Harbeth C7ES-3 XD and using them with a "lowly" Yamaha A-S801 Integrated Amp - which with previous speaker (Canadian made Enigma) sounded OK. The Harbeth - are glorious with vocals and even piano sounds good but Orchestration seems somewhat muffled to me. I read that "Harbeth likes to demo with Hegel" (and Sugden?) but also that "Any good Amp will do".... The question is what is a good Amp? Would a Yamaha with 240 Damping factor suffice or really something like the Hegel with 4000? I am mentioning the damping factor specifically since it was such an obvious difference. On paper it looks like this might have a significant effect (assuming to the positive) on the sound. Any first hand experience opinions are appreciated. 

ahal1
arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,790 posts
 

Except for the ‘all amps are the same crowd”, this should not be news to anyone. Harbeth speakers like solid state amplification. When I had the 40.2s, my best combo was a tube preamp paired with an SS amp. Best of both worlds. 

bjesien
1,435 posts
 

I had the C7esXP with a Supernait 3 it was a great combo but when I tried to play them "loud" with any bass music the baskets would bottom out. I only did it twice before realizing they’re perfect for most music but don’t excel in others. Kind of surprised, i might have been approaching upper 90’s db. 

Damping on this amp is 330 if that helps anyone figure it out.

westcoastaudiophile
819 posts
 

@ahal1 "Do Harbeth speakers really need a 4000 damping factor?” no!

even “ideal DF” amp w/ 1000000 damping factor cannot deliver it to the drivers, due to drivers resistance and speaker x-over design.. typical coil in low-freq. driver circuit has ~ 200mOhms of resistance, which limits damping factor at 30 level, for 6 Ohms spkr, assuming amp’s damping factor is infinite!

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