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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
eagleeye7
23 posts
 
Change in sound, with wire direction,  depends upon the design of the cable!

To verify that a difference exists, in your cable, you need an old Tuner with a meter.  Don't laugh, this is a very sensitive test instrument, just follow the steps below:

1) Tune into a strong station as evidenced by the meter reading, disconnect whatever you were using as an antenna cable.

2) Disconnect the cable (under test) from your equipment, then connect one end (Hot to Hot) ~ (Ground to Ground) and view & record the meter reading, with the other end open.

3) Reverse the Cable ends under test, in (2) above & repeat; i.e. connect one end (Hot to Hot) ~ (Ground to Ground) and view & record the meter reading.

4) If  there is no difference, (in Meter readings 2 Vs 3 above) you could not be able to hear any difference in sound quality  by connecting your cable in either direction.

5) If you experience a difference, however, you would likely be able to hear that as a subtle difference in clarity of sound from your system.  In this case, place the end that shows the lowest meter reading towards the source of the signal in your system.  This will minimize signal pick up in your cable, which gets amplified in subsequent stages of amplification.   

6) All readings you get are dependent upon the original signal strength & cable ground isolation & are to be used for comparison between ends only.      


nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,891 posts
 
That's similar to what a cable maker did when I had him make some cables for me back in early '90s. He was a local out in Glendale so I went to check out his cables. He had a workshop in his backyard and in it he had spools of different brands of cables and practically every type of connector you could imagine.

I watched as he made some speaker cables for the length I needed. After deciding on which cable, he'd lay them out, one at a time and put the leads of his tester on both ends and check some measurements. Then he'd reverse the cable and do it again.

After orienting them the way he wanted, I asked him why he did it and he said he wanted them to all "go" the same way, and when finished with the assembly, marked them accordingly. 

I don't know what it was he was measuring or what he ran through them as he did it, but it was apparent that something was directional in the cable. I'm just surprised that people are still debating this.

All the best,
Nonoise
anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
    @eagleeye7
    To verify that a difference exists, in your cable, you need an old Tuner with a meter. Don't laugh, this is a very sensitive test instrument, just follow the steps below:

First of all, I have to thank you for such an interesting example! No laughing at all, because I definitely know that the direction of the wire used as the radio antenna is just as important as the direction of the wire in the signal chain. This can be easily checked on any receiver, or better on an old tube radio, where the difference is more obvious. You can even see it on the TV if you use an old-style aerial antenna instead of a modern digital cable signal. The difference here will be noticed not only by ear, but also by eye, in case you care the difference between the image of old movies and modern digital ones.

But unfortunately this example can not prove the wire direction audibility in signal chain. The antenna picks up the RF signal, the meter also responds to the fluctuations of RF signal together with the level of rectified audible signal. There are a lot of extraneous interference in the RF signal, which change both in time and from the slightest deviation of the antenna from the initial position, this is the weak point of the receiver meter based proof.

Wires definitely has preferable direction, but each attempt to explain it by means of difference in electricity signal is easily challenged if you know the ropes of radio engineering. I still cant imagine how wire direction can be explained withing physics.

With respect.
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,140 posts
 
Very interesting thread....

Thanks
eagleeye7
23 posts
 
@ anton_stepichev 
 "There are a lot of extraneous interference in the RF signal, which change both in time and from the slightest deviation of the antenna from the initial position, this is the weak point of the receiver meter based proof." 

I have used the technique described in my post; on Cables of my own making & find that as you so correctly state ""There are a lot of extraneous interference in the RF signal, which change both in time and from the slightest deviation of the antenna from the initial position, this is the weak point of the receiver meter based proof.""  

I have found the differences in time & position (you mention) of Cables to be VERY MINOR COMPARED TO THE DIRECTIONAL EFFECT OF THAT SPECIFIC CABLE UNDER EVALUATION.  Again, the design of the cable IMHO has the greatest effect on directionality.

Try it, if You find no directional difference, or that difference is masked by the items you mention, then IMHO, one would not be able to hear directionality in that particular Cable under test with the meter based evaluation.  
 
eagleeye7

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