I'm not sure if any so called hi-end cable manufacture uses shielding in
their speaker cables. I'm pretty sure AQ doesn't. I do know the Clear Day
Shotgun and Double Shotgun speakers cables don't.
Making speaker cables with shields is probably not a good idea, too much capacitance in the Power Amp load can make the output stage oscillate. Shielding is used in the interconnects to make sure interference doesn't get amplified with the signal, the amplified signal in the speaker wire is a high enough voltage for most, if not all interference to be lost in the noise floor.
To clarify, the interconnects in my example have no shield at all. Just 3 solid-core wires (1 signal and 2 for return) with cotton insulation on each wire hand twisted together. Connectors are eichmann bullets.
Thanks for clarifying, that's what I thought you meant. If you want to take the experiment further you may want to test the interconnects further up the signal chain assuming your preamp has some gain. You'd hear the differences clearer also if you experiment with them between a turntable and MC/MM amplifier, the additional gain and RIAA equalisation would certainly highlight mains interference as well as testing to see whether the perceived effect of directionality increases.
