It's not a dumb question at all. I'm going to try to answer it using my somewhat "feeble" understanding and if I'm wrong, someone will correct me and I'll learn something!
I think, when you monitor spark, you are watching the "advance" that is taking place as you drive. This varies according to RPM, and maybe, load.
The alarm MIGHT be triggered when the spark advance is "pulled" due to detonation, but I'm frankly guessing here. I seriously doubt if this alarm has anything to do with bad plugs though. And, I don't know what you mean by spark "rate", unless you're referring to "advance".
However, if there's a misfire, you could get a "P0300 Random Misfire Detected" or a "P030#" code where the "#" is the cylinder number. So, if you set your alarm notification to alert you on ONE code (I think the default is three), you'd get what you're looking for.
- Jack
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