What do we hear when we change the direction of a wire?


Douglas Self wrote a devastating article about audio anomalies back in 1988. With all the necessary knowledge and measuring tools, he did not detect any supposedly audible changes in the electrical signal. Self and his colleagues were sure that they had proved the absence of anomalies in audio, but over the past 30 years, audio anomalies have not disappeared anywhere, at the same time the authority of science in the field of audio has increasingly become questioned. It's hard to believe, but science still cannot clearly answer the question of what electricity is and what sound is! (see article by A.J.Essien).

For your information: to make sure that no potentially audible changes in the electrical signal occur when we apply any "audio magic" to our gear, no super equipment is needed. The smallest step-change in amplitude that can be detected by ear is about 0.3dB for a pure tone. In more realistic situations it is 0.5 to 1.0dB'". This is about a 10% change. (Harris J.D.). At medium volume, the voltage amplitude at the output of the amplifier is approximately 10 volts, which means that the smallest audible difference in sound will be noticeable when the output voltage changes to 1 volt. Such an error is impossible not to notice even using a conventional voltmeter, but Self and his colleagues performed much more accurate measurements, including ones made directly on the music signal using Baxandall subtraction technique - they found no error even at this highest level.

As a result, we are faced with an apparently unsolvable problem: those of us who do not hear the sound of wires, relying on the authority of scientists, claim that audio anomalies are BS. However, people who confidently perceive this component of sound are forced to make another, the only possible conclusion in this situation: the electrical and acoustic signals contain some additional signal(s) that are still unknown to science, and which we perceive with a certain sixth sense.

If there are no electrical changes in the signal, then there are no acoustic changes, respectively, hearing does not participate in the perception of anomalies. What other options can there be?

Regards.
anton_stepichev
As a result, we have a completely illogical situation: the most important moments for the perception of music are improved, while the technical characteristics of the system are deteriorated.

A question I’ve been asking myself for years - how can this be, if the technical (electrical) characteristics determine everything?
The comparison of Grappelli and Django is stunning...

And like i already said this is the one of more important thread i ever read in audiogon....

The questions asked after Anton experiments and the comparison we can make listening his transfer of 78 Rpm says a lot....



Thanks....
alexberger,

Yes what you said about tubes! Do you think this linearity can be measured cause it sure can be heard in many circuits. Complex designs can often measure well but it is real trick to get them to sound as good as a simple design with or without tubes. This measurement thing is really a dead horse.
I just made another REL cord for a new sub and noticed the Canare wire I used isn't labeled for directionality...should I undo the carefully shrink wrapped and Speakon festooned masterpiece I assembled? Uh...no. 

wolf_garcia
I just made another REL cord for a new sub and noticed the Canare wire I used isn't labeled for directionality...should I undo the carefully shrink wrapped and Speakon festooned masterpiece I assembled? Uh...no.

I don't think it makes sense to redo the cable if it's going to be used in a subwoofer. Usually in complex systems with multi-band speakers and subwoofers, the directivity of the individual wires is not as important as in simple tube amplifiers used with two-band speakers.  The sub itself badly affects the playback of acoustical music to a much greater extent than a cable - in exchange for a better bass, you get worse plasticity of acoustic instruments and some other artifacts in middle range.

So my opinion is if the system is configured to listen to classical music, it is better to just get rid of the subwoofer along with its cables, and if you listen to electronical music, then the direction of sub's wire will not matter much.

But no one can say with certainty how important the direction of a single wire is in your system and specifically for you. This should be tried.