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.

earthtones

My feet tap to the music not the system. It is great that your transient response and dynamic contrast have improved with your new cartridge but, rhythm and timing belong to the musician.

Marketing term or not it’s a viable adjective to describe the sound of a high end system. One reason why the Rega P9/RB1000(2012) is the oldest component in my system.

It’s certainly viable, just like any other adjective we care to use to describe our subjective impression of how a system or a component may sound to us. Such adjectives are most meaningful when the other guy was in the same room with you at the same time listening to the same music.

Measured wow/flutter, according to multiple trials with Analog Magic, is around .06%. This is a decent figure for sure, but to improve it I suspect I’d need to overhaul the bearing, which I’m not willing to do at this point. The next upgrade will be a new table.