directional cables?


My IC cables are directional, with arrows pointing the way they should be hooked-up. Q: Should they run with the arrows pointing to my cd player, or to my integrated amp? Thanks.
tbromgard
"In direct current, the electrons do indeed flow in one direction, and thus "the load""

Nsgarch - electric current is a flow of charge and not a flow of electrons. Electrons move very slow - at about 0.1mm/s (drift velocity).
"As for the arrows, they simply indicate at which end of a single ended audio frequency cable the shield is tied to ground. This helps to select a common piece of equipment (usually the preamp) as the single grounding point for all the signal cables."

This is what Audio Note recommends with their interconnects as one end of the shield is tied to ground. Regarding the audible effects of directionality with this cable design, I recall once several years ago that I disconnected all of my cables to clean all of the RCA plugs and jacks. When I re-installed them something sounded wrong. As it turns out I had reversed one of them by mistake. Reversing it back to its original orientation was audibly much better.
Nsgarch - electric current is a flow of charge and not a flow of electrons. Electrons move very slow - at about 0.1mm/s (drift velocity).

I'm afraid that's incorrect. Current flow is indeed a flow of electrons. Electrons ARE the charge carriers, which is why we call this field "electronics" instead of "protonics."

The measure of current is ultimately the measure of how many electrons pass a given point in a given amount of time. If you have 6.241 times 10 to the 18th electrons passing a given point in one second, you have one Ampere of current flowing.


It is worth to mention that with AC current electrons are not moving at all but rather vibrate. Given electron does not change position but electric charge does.
???? I missed it before but that makes absolutely no sense. You can't separate the positive and negative alternations of a signal with a cable any more than you can have a magnet with one pole.

He's not talking about the positive and negative alterations of a signal. He's talking about the shield. Specifically, a shield covering a pair of conductors.

With such a cable, you can either connect the shield to one end or both ends. If it's connected to both ends, then the shield carries some of the signal current. If you connect it at one end, it's not, however it still provides shielding. It's sometimes referred to as a "telescoping shield."