Interconnects, some have directional indicators, why?

georgelofi

"There was only one wire developed years ago 80’s for audio that I believe was directional. That was Linear Crystal Oxygen Free (LC-OFC) speaker wire from Audio Technica, it was heated up to such a degree it crystalized when it was drawn."

Getting back down to reality for just a second there waso actually only ONE wire that was NON-DIRECTIONAL - the CARBON wire, Van den Hul’s metal-free The First. The reason carbon wire, i.e., non metal wire, is non-directional is because it is amorphous, whereas ALL metal conductors are by their very nature crystal structures, All metals are crystal structures, and in their free state the crystal structure is symmetrical. but when metal is bent, rolled, hammered or drawn the symmetrical crystal structure of the material is deformed. In reality, a single crystal wire would actually minimize or eliminate the "directionality" from occuring since it’s the *deformation* of the symmetrical crystal structure that causes the directionality in the first place. Van den Hul also produced single crystal wire; I owned single crystal tonearm wire way back when.

geoff kait
machina dynamica
no goats no glory

Should be under cables!!

So here comes the obvious question: Do all "directional" interconnects terminate at the amplifier - arrow pointing to the input of the amplifier?

Crystal orientation in OFC and in Ohno Continuous Casting manufacturing predicts that there is directionality in metals that may influence the sound quality.

I don't dispute that but such does not suggest directionality.

Every cables have directions. The signal behaves differently with wire directions. One direction is cleaner, natural, and more focus than another direction. I test it and use it every day. Every audio companies should know this fact.

Directions, yes, but this is not influenced by the **wire** somehow conducting better in one direction than another, its caused by the way the cable is constructed- and this only applies to certain single-ended cables which might have the shield connection at one end only. Even then, its not the cable that sounds different, it would be caused by the equipment (amps and preamp) reacting to the change in the noise floor. Some equipment is better grounded than others and this will lead to cable qualities manifesting in different ways in different systems.