I believe I experienced great PRAT for the first time

….including ears…

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

@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.

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

No, in my opinion, although other than the turntable itself, I could imagine that loudspeakers would come in second as a determinant of PRaT.  (I've always hated that term, and I don't know why I am even getting into it now.)  To repeat myself, the turntable is first and foremost the device that preserves rhythm and timing of the music, by its capacity or lack of capacity to maintain a constant speed despite factors that tend to cause speed errors, like stylus drag, belt creep, etc.  I am not talking about absolutely perfect 33.333 rpm; small deviations are probably inaudible, but what is audible is the speed drifting up and down, which would be perceived as aberrant timing and loss of PRaT (god help us).  I have more or less mentioned this previously but perhaps it didn't make a dent.

PRAT is easily killed…. It is one of the most difficult attributes to get and keep through the signal path. My experience points to it being most easily destroyed in the electronics. My current system is outstanding at PRAT as well as detail… Thinking back PRAT has always been most closely associated with great tube equipment I have heard over the last fifty years. As I assembled my most recent system (all Audio Research:I have had ARC phono stage and preamp for a couple decades) when I inserted an ARC amp it jumped big time, then I inserted a ARC DAC… jumped again.

Interesting, as I look back, Audio Research, Cary, VAC, CJ, Viva (?)… a couple others… these were always the ones that stuck in my mine as emotionally connective… I don’t remember the speakers… it was great tube equipment that got this most important aspect right. Spectacular, upfront details and slam then solid state will get your there… music - swing, emotional connection… that is for tube equipment.

They should just call it “foot tapping”.  At least you know that when you you see it.