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Pace, rhythm and timing. What do these terms mean to you with respect to hifi?

Nic Robinson

Moderator
It maybe a good time to revisit this subject. Being mostly a listener to classical music, pitch stability is important (and measurable) as is the ability to resolve detail and stereo information. It's great if a system can quickly and appropriately to deliver transients or rapid dynamic differences, and I do love how a great system does this in popular music I might enjoy.

But aside from these things...what do P, R and T actually mean, or are they a way of describing something intangible?

* I must say, I've never been one to nod my head in time to the music.
 
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It’s a bit like trying to describe the colour green to someone who’s colourblind.
Hopefully some more informative comments will be forthcoming.

But, having only been collecting records and hifi since the mid 70s (first Linn/Naim system in 1986), and having only the two music degrees and the one performer's diploma, - and having been a BBC sound recordist and editor, I do accept I'm at something of a disadvantage.
 
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Marketing speech to focus the customer on one particular aspect of a reproduced musical recording.

It’s more than that IME. Some systems really do sound totally dead in the water rhythmically, others artificially hyped-up and exaggerated to my ears, and it is way more than a tonal balance thing (e.g. no bass being mistaken for fast bass).

As ever with these things the truth tends to lie somewhere in the middle ground. The dealers, reviewers etc arguing that the Linn ‘tune dem’ (or their equivalent) is everything are just as full of bullshit as those arguing it doesn’t exist/isn’t possible.
 
It’s a bit like trying to describe the colour green to someone who’s colourblind.
Indeed. It cannot be measured or demonstrated to exist at all. It cannot be described or communicated to anyone else. You can only "get it" or "not get it". IOW, it is very much like a mystical experience, part of a well known quasi-religious audiophile cult.
 
I’ve said elsewhere that I think tone and timbre are far more important than PRaT - but then I listen to less rock these days and don’t look for “boogie” as much I used to. I look far more for something that captures the character of the playing and the instruments and, through that, the emotion of the music. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive but moving from Naim to valves had given me a better balance.
 
Maybe the same thing, maybe not, but one of the things I listen for is "energy". Some systems seem to portray the music without it, others do, and the ones that do are usually a more musical, realistic and an enjoyable listen.
 
Well, as most of todays measurements will tell you all amplifiers and loudspeakers measurements are close to perfect, you can only blame the source or maybe even your ears ?
 
It’s more than that IME. Some systems really do sound totally dead in the water rhythmically, others artificially hyped-up and exaggerated to my ears, and it is way more than a tonal balance thing (e.g. no bass being mistaken for fast bass).

As ever with these things the truth tends to lie somewhere in the middle ground. The dealers, reviewers etc arguing that the Linn ‘tune dem’ (or their equivalent) is everything are just as full of bullshit as those arguing it doesn’t exist/isn’t possible.

That's perhaps very true, personally (and thankfully) I've never heard a system that sounds 'totally dead in the water rhythmically ' and IMHO it's the songwriter, composer and musicians that set the pace, rhythm and timing of a piece of music where as in Hifi PRAT is just marketing terminology, though I'm sure it's absolutely true that Linn's tune dem excell with certain aspects of the music.
 
I think that's the point as I understand it.

If pace means the same as tempo and timing is ensemble or adherence to rhythm, those are specific and measurable aspects to any musical performance. Rhythm is a very precise term in music. None of these three words can be applied to audio reproduction if their original meanings are to be maintained, unless the equipment is so bad that, e.g., it varies the tempo!

I get what people mean when applying these terms to high-fidelity reproducing equipment, but they ultimately mean no more than pitch accuracy and dynamic resolution imo. I think the engineering of some turntable components and the reserves of power available in some amps make dynamic punch a front and centre aspect of the reproduction - hence the term I guess. But maybe this can be over-emphasised and may mask the lack of other necessary factors to true fidelity.
 
Pace, rythm and timing are musical qualities. In regard to audio they refer to perceived qualities of how the playback "presents" recorded music.
 


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