it’s there inherent in music; you can lose it anywhere in the signal chain.
s’funny - the name Vandersteen keeps popping up in my mind for some strange reason..
I believe I experienced great PRAT for the first time
Pace, Rhythm and Timing - I've often heard about it, mainly in the context of certain turntables, but I don't think I've really experienced it in a highly satisfactory way until today when I mounted my new Soundsmith Hyperion, an upgrade from my Sussorro. Halfway through side two of Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium, it suddenly dawned on me that there was more going on than improvements in clarity, detail, neutrality, bass punch and other rather specific traits that I've until this point used to refer to what I'm hearing. For the first time in the 30 years I've had this album, I was struck by a sense of flow, ease, relaxation, and my feet were tapping! Yes, this must be it. I connected with the music at a higher level just now, something new to me. Get all the details correct, and the PRAT appears in front of you. So, this was nothing to do with the fact that my turntable runs at the correct speed with low W/F, as it was performing well at that before. I had assumed that's what PRAT meant. Perhaps it means that too, in a speed stability sense.
Showing 14 responses by pesky_wabbit
then there’s the role of the arm (and mat) in controlling resonances in the time domain, chassis composition and construction including the possible role of the Tiefenbrun ‘closed loop’ principle (also claiming to address time domain resonance issues if you are a believer), the ability of the cartridge to respond to transients.and control resonances etc etc Anything that affects the storage and release of energy in the turntable SYSTEM can and will affect PRAT. Why do you think Rega’s latest designs are purposefully so ultra lo-mass, and that they do PRAT so well? |
Rega turntables are low mass to limit the storage (and subsequent delayed release) of energy. This design objective is well documented and requires very little research to confirm. As to Rega’s ability to do PRAT, I suggest you A/B an RP10/Apheta 3 against an LP12 combination at twice the price and make up your own mind. Don’t take your credit card. |
I have found sprakers can be a great killer of PRAT. It is amply evident that some manufacturers simply do not understand the concept. Just as some people are tone deaf I am conviced that some are born rythmically challenged. As for amplifier design, I think the outcome is a direct reflection of the engineer’s musical priorities. Naim moved a lot of kit. I preferred Exposure which retained the PRAT but added a degree of ’body’ to the sound. |
@cd318 you must be nearly as ancient as me, as can I can well remember Jimmy’s penchant for ripping out the lining of speaker enclosures when writing for Hi Fi Answers - got right up the nose of a couple of manufacturers too if I recall correctly.. |
ah yes, the good old days of Chris and the flat earth society. In conjunction with the Linn/Naim marketing steamroller they did a pretty good job of brainwashing the British audio mindset for well over a decade, and managed to have the dealers who blinked at their demands fall into liquidation in quick succession. I think a lot of us finally lost Jimmy when both he and Ed Paul Benson fell in with Peter Belt and went straight down the rabbithole - last I heard he was clamping strange devices to his water pipes. |
@lewm I must say the trend is more toward using spectral decay plots and FFT analysis to influence cabinetry design and material choice such that what resonances do occur are pushed outside the band where the ear is most sensitive and are sufficiently low in magnitude that no ad-hoc post construction damping treatment is required. Which is what I think @cd318 was alluding to. |