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. 

128x128ahal1

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@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.

Membrane motion braking current (Lenz law) passes thru speaker, wire, amplifier's output and the other wire. Would adding 0,002ohm (DF=4000) instead of 0.02ohm (DF=400) to speaker impedance make it sound different (damp/brake better)?   Even if we assume 4ohm at low frequencies of 6ohm nominal impedance (1kHz) speaker, we get 4.002ohm vs 4.02ohm.  As long as DF is decent (>20) it should be fine IMHO.

I tried my 30.1's with an A21, a Class D Audio SDS 470C, and ARC 150SE - but they sounded best with my Hegel H590 - greater clarity and detail resolution.  May have been my imagination... but... that's how it seemed to me.