b4icu-
I know music is AC. Those who claimed that their cables are directional don't! What a shame...
Oopsie! How's that old saw go again? When you assume you make an ass out of yourself? Something like that.
AC stands for Alternating Current. AC does not stand for Going Nowhere. In that case it would be GN. In order for work to be done something must move and flow somewhere. Water over a turbine, gas through an engine. Electric charges through a wire.
Think about it. There has to be flow. But even in your imaginary world where there is no flow, there still has to be movement through your AC cycle. Whether you imagine the cycle starting from zero and going negative, or positive, the fact of the matter is it must start off going one way or the other or else where is it going to reverse and go the other way from?
This way that it starts off, whichever way it is, one thing for sure, its in a direction. One or the other. You do not get to have your electrons and eat them too. They must go somewhere.
Now here's another one. Ever notice how speakers have this unfortunate habit of burning out when played too loud? How's that happen, then? In your view where the current goes nowhere, where's the energy come from? If there's energy in the form of heat in the driver it had to come from somewhere. If so then how did it get there? From which direction did it come?
It came from the amp. Where did it go? Well the speaker wasn't hot and now it is so odds are it went from the amp to the speaker.
How much more evidence can we find to demonstrate the fact of direction? Here's another one! On both the amp and the AC receptacle, the power comes out of two wires, right? Wrong! The power comes out of one wire. It just doesn't seem that way because no power ever goes anywhere without completing a circuit. A circuit by the way is a path for the electrical energy to complete on its journey to ground. It can be through an amp, a speaker, or you. Electrons do not care. But they refuse to do a darn thing until that circuit is there. Once it is, watch out!
So now if you think there's no direction try this one. Stick your wet finger in a light socket. What you will find, you can touch the outside bit where the bulb screws in all day long and nothing happens. Why? Isn't is AC? Shouldn't you get a shock either way? No! Because the electrons do not flow from that one. Because they do have direction after all you will only get shocked touching the one at the bottom. Electricians by convention (something they all agree to) use black for hot, the one from which electrons flow, and white for neutral, the direction they take on their journey back to ground.
I've tried to keep this tech talk low key and easy to understand. Not that it really matters. Anyone can hook up a wire, listen, swap ends and listen again. You've done that, right? You didn't just assume, did you?
Did you??!
Say, which direction is the hydro dam from your house? Do you power the dam? Or does the dam power your house? So which direction ... aww nevermind.