Connect a networked speaker cable in the wrong direction and wait for the fun. I was glad to only blow the rail fuses in my amps.
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The lattice structure of solidus wire, ie, electron orbital locked frozen crystalline wire, it can and mostly will be directional, depending on the method of creation. The same goes for the dielectric. Flicker, Johnson, and shot noise all play their part -it’s quite the stew, and a polarized one at that. Almost all dielectrics in use are mildly thermoplastic in nature, and will exhibit polarization when extruded: http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/14fd7ed4543a437e93aefcb66482ae59/plastic-measuring-cylinder-illuminated-by... This will organize the fields in play, when under high rates of change or in transients. When looking at the ’polarized’ image supplied above, imagine a more polarized, organized and aligned structure exuded around the wire. Add in that to the electrical fields in modulation that are interacting with the wire, the polarizing effect is again in the wire (due to it’s manufacture and fundamentals in bulk lattice of elements-like wire), even though it is not transparent to light and we can’t use a polarization filter to see it. So the wire and the dielectric each independently act predominantly with opposite field characteristics, one current (wire) and the other voltage (dielectric). One can even find resonance patterns at a given frequency or delta. The pairing makes for a very ’ac’ responsive activity when the ’cable’ (metal wire and dielectric skin) is hit with the varied changes of flow and value we call ’signal’ (delta). Since it predominantly interacts with the peak transients and we hear via transient function (delta), this activity and interaction of the cable with the signal -is heard by humans. The only cable in the world that escapes this basic consideration, is the liquid metal Teo audio cables. The interaction of signal and conductor, in the liquid metal cables, is more akin to how light interacts with a fluid or gas. More of a free form plasma effect and interaction. For the first time ever in audio, it’s a completely different beast. It’s a change in the basic analysis and equations in use. In the fluid metal, which is fluid at the molecular level, there is no polarization possible, in the classic sense of how all solids function in their enforced polarized interactions with electrical fields. The result is electrical considerations which beggar belief. Most cables are manufactured with these directional issues taken into account, as the effect is on record as being heard. Not that many folks articulate the issue of lattice alignment and polarization, and not that many who hear it in audio cables understand the issue of polarization..and precious little science is put into the area of trying to see how much a person can hear of such things. When we add in the differences in human hearing in individuals, then add in intelligence, cognition, and data gaps, we get this argumentative stew that might be called ’the cable wars’. |
How do you square this with the cable carrying an AC signal? // https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/directional-cables herman 1,909 posts 05-17-2010 3:57pm
This explanation, while common, ignores the fact that we are transferring energy in one direction. The oversimplified view that we have electrons flowing in one direction and then they all flow back the other direction so it all balances out works for some very simple electronic models but falls apart when trying to use it to explain transmission lines (cables). I’m not arguing that a perfectly symmetrical cable is directional, only that the explanation used is not applicable to what is really happening. [End of quote.] . |
I'm curious as to why some interconnects are directional? Is there a physical internal difference and do they generally sound better and cost more than non-directional cables? Thanks for your interest.My view on it and the way I always make them up on RCA's leads with 2 x internal conductors and a shield, the shield is only used as an RF trap and only connected at one end, (not used as the signal return). In this case the end that the shield IS connected to the ground wire should be at the least sensitive, being the poweramp not the source, as to dump the RF it catches to ground of least sensitive part of the chain, being the poweramp, not the preamp or the source. Cheers George |
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