Do Harbeth speakers really need a 4000 damping factor?

I have the 7XD with a Leben 300XS and a Supernait 3. They both present wildly different characteristics. The Leben is a holdover from a different speaker and it sounds beautiful at low volumes but doesn't present a soundstage or have bass anything the the Supernait. If I were to ever get a tube amp with these I'd look above 40 WPC, but again that varies wildly with listening preferences and transformers, etc. 

I don't know anything about the Yamaha amp you mention but in my experience you get what you pay for. As far as damping factor I'd say 4000 is a bit over the top and not needed for the 7. Never hears a Hegel amp either.

If you have the ability to build wooden stands, take a look at the Tontrager stands. People rave about them and they shouldn’t be very hard to knock up for anyone with decent woodworking skills. But don’t underestimate the differences a good stand makes to influence the sound  

@ahal1

You are aware that Harbeth shows with Hegel, right?

I very much doubt they would choose to do so unless they perceived a significant sonic benefit. Whether Harbeths require high damping factor amplification I can’t say.

I can say that when I switched from Well Majestic integrated with damping factor of 200 to Hegel H390, my Silverline monitors "came alive" in a way I’d never heard. That was a dramatic demonstration of the importance of proper speaker/amp matching. Needless to say, YMMV. 

I read that "Harbeth likes to demo with Hegel" (and Sugden?) 

These are 2 very different sounding amps. I've never heard a Hegel I like, even with Harbeth 30's and 7C's. I haven't heard Sugden on Harbeth but I haven't heard an A21SE sound bad on anything...though I'm sure there's a few.