I believe I experienced great PRAT for the first time

@jjss49 

Apparently most British PA amps weren't very good back in the 1960s and this is what led Julian to believe he could do better himself.

I'm pretty sure that most of the nonsense came from the Linn side, although Naim did have their quirks. Eg they wouldn't put RCAs on their amps so we had to get our Linn's fitted with BNCs.

Linn certainly had a sense of humour and I'm pretty sure they were in on the prat joke.

@pesky_wabbit 

Many agree with you, no doubt. Rega for one.

As I said, it would be nice to have both.

In the UK this search for PRAT resulted in many systems sounding quick and snappy but almost totally devoid of tone, texture and colour.

In any case shouldn't PRAT be more a function of the loudspeakers than any other component?

If an amplifier sounds as if it's got great PRAT then shouldn't we ask why?

Could it be leaving something important out?

In any case shouldn’t PRAT be more a function of the loudspeakers than any other component?

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.

nb Farlowe era Exposure.

@pesky_wabbit

I have found sprakers can be a great killer of PRAT.

Me too.

I don’t think it’s too bad today but back in the 1990s and 2000s there seemed to be a lot of loudspeakers that would seem to suck out the life of music, unless perhaps they were turned up very loud.

Some of them seemed to blur the timing by leaving the bass lagging behind and squash some of the dynamics so that the music always felt ’sat on’.

This lead to some trying out various tweaks in order to correct things. I remember British reviewer Jimmy Hughes, the god of tweaks this side of the pond, advocating the extreme measure of removing some or all of the internal loudspeaker wadding in order to liven things up again.

Of course that could lead to an increase in cabinet resonances but as they say, ’you pays your money and takes your choice’.

@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..