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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
pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 

Somehow, I got sucked into the Linn/Naim cult after HFA ceased publication and I picked up Hi-Fi Review edited by Chris Frankland.

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. 

pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 

@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.

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,746 posts
 

no Lew, one changes resonant energy into heat, accomplished with cabinet within a cabinet w constrained layer damping between….. easy, if a designer invests in the right tools….including ears…

pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 

….including ears…

always the ultimate arbiter, the other stuff merely helps speed up the process

cd318
2,636 posts
 

@pesky_wabbit 

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. 

 

A good summing up.

Yes, the emergence of Peter Belt was a step too far for me too.

 

Good explanation too about shuffling resonances out of where they do most harm.

Perhaps I should have explained in greater detail.

After all I was there in person when Russell himself not only explained his approach but demonstrated it at the UK Hi-Fi Show a few months ago.

That's also the goal of Harbeth if I remember correctly.

 

Although they both use a lot of science in their designs, they take a different approach to get there. Harbeth favour lossy cabinets to Russell K's listening by ear.

Perhaps ultimately it's just a question of where you want to put the emphasis.

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