"Pace", it's importance for enjoyment?

Hi Red!
Yes, simplicity in that it uses a single midrange driver without networks! If the impulse response is at least decent you have a chance of getting reasonable sound.
When asked what loudspeakers impressed him the most, the ex head designer at the old AR (now at EAR pro sound) related how shocked he was to hear a reasonably-optimized enclosure housing a simple full-range Radio Shack 5" driver back in the 80s! He had heard a male voice call out, and thinking there was someone behind him, turned around to "see" this
simple box sounding so utterly natural. He then went on to explain his design preference for midrange drivers with big voice coils that could be run wide. His work with tweaked Morel midranges resulted in AR's last 3-ways before their bustup and emigration from the Right Coast to the Left! (Think it was called the AR-1 or something).
OTOH I wonder if presence-region and treble detail of flat freq response systems simply "grabs" the attention of the ear-brain's high sensitivity, somehow masking the ease of
PRaT-ful boogying. Nah...that can't be right: the ARCAM 9 can sound clean and clear as a whistle, but dances with two left feat! My old Rotel's dirty as hell, but keeps time like
a Third Reich brownshirt brigade...or Charlie Watts!

Thanks to all for the input. I attended a 3 day Jazz fest in Iowa City over the weekend,..hot as hell, but great music, food, friends, fun..and plenty of pace and PRAT.

Let me toss out a couple of observations:

1) PRAT is almost alway good on boom boxes and car radios and the like, typically better than on high end systems

2) Good PRAT, such as on a car radio, often strikes me as BETTER than the real thing itself.

These observations lead me to suspect that PRAT may be BS in some way (some have claimed it is a distortion). I'm not making that claim (please don't jump down my throat), I just want to consider these things in conversation. --Dan

"Pace" to me seems to be slowing the music down, making it more distinct and listenable...but actually the "speed" is the same! My SFCD1 excellas in this quality.

I think the bass information being emphasized on boomboxes and the guy next to you's car system is more tempo and beat and not the complete sence of pace (a term I prefer a bit over PRAT). A brush on a top-hat, or the finger sliding off the string on an upright bass(which is a percussive type of sound) can create pace as well..without being bass notes. That said..the bass that is heard from boomboxes and car stereo's is a part of the story.