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

Showing 1 response by westcoastaudiophile

@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!