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Directionality of wire

I am a fan of Chris Sommovigo's Black Cat and Airwave interconnects. I hope he does not mind me quoting him or naming him on this subject, but Chris does not mark directionality of his IC's. I recently wrote him on the subject and he responded that absent shunting off to ground/dialectric designs, the idea of wire directionality is a complete myth. Same with resistors and fuses. My hunch is that 95% of IC "manufacturers", particularly the one man operations of under $500 IC's mark directionality because they think it lends the appearance of technical sophistication and legitimacy. But even among the "big boys", the myth gets thrown around like so much accepted common knowledge. Thoughts? Someone care to educate me on how a simple IC or PC or speaker cable or fuse without a special shunting scheme can possibly have directionality? It was this comment by Stephen Mejias (then of Audioquest and in the context of Herb Reichert's review of the AQ Niagra 1000) that prompts my question;

Thank you for the excellent question. AudioQuest provided an NRG-10 AC cable for the evaluation. Like all AudioQuest cables, our AC cables use solid conductors that are carefully controlled for low-noise directionality. We see this as a benefit for all applications -- one that becomes especially important when discussing our Niagara units. Because our AC cables use conductors that have been properly controlled for low-noise directionality, they complement the Niagara System’s patented Ground-Noise Dissipation Technology. Other AC cables would work, but may or may not allow the Niagara to reach its full potential. If you'd like more information on our use of directionality to minimize the harmful effects of high-frequency noise, please visit http://www.audioquest.com/directionality-its-all-about-noise/ or the Niagara 1000's owner's manual (available on our website).

Thanks again.

Stephen Mejias
AudioQuest


Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-15-audioquest-niagara-1000-hifiman-he1000-v2-p...


128x128fsonicsmith
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 

brucenewengland
geoffkait:
"Even if one wishes to refer to current as the "signal," since current is alternating we only need to worry about the current (signal) when it’s traveling toward the component or, in the case of speaker cables, when the current is traveling toward the speakers. The other half of the time, when the current is traveling in the opposite direction, we can ignore the "signal" since its effects are inaudible."

Respectfully, no. Would you argue that the speaker diaphragm moving is only audible in one direction?

>>>>>>You would like the backwards motion of the speaker diaphragm to be as efficient as the forward motion, no? The most efficient forward AND backward motion for the speaker diaphragm is achieved when both wires in the speaker cable are put in the correct direction, I.e., with the lowest voltage drop direction toward the speaker. Voltage is alternating just like the current.
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 

kosst_amojan
@geoffkait

Brucenewengland is totally calling you out and I’m not sure how the flaw in your thinking isn’t totally obvious. For energy to push a diaphragm forward or draw it back the energy through the conductors must flow equally well in both directions for both conductors. If one suddenly behaves in an aberrant way due to the reversal of energy, that aberration will will impinge the performance of the whole system. The suggestion that a cable can behave like a diode and that it be a good thing is ludicrous on it’s face.

>>>>> "If one (conductor) behaves in an aberrant way...the aberration will impinge (on) the performance of the whole system." I couldn’t have said it better myself. Exactly!

"The suggestion that a cable can behave like a diode and that it (can) be a good thing is ludicrous on the face of it."

>>>>I never suggested the cable can act like a diode OR that it’s a good thing. Nice Strawman argument!

Better luck next time.

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