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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. 

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bhvf
211 posts
 

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.

kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,432 posts
 

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.

bassdude
498 posts
 

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.

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curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,889 posts
 

Maybe I’m wrong, but I believe that Dampening factors have very little to do with what brand of speakers you own.

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