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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
anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
@mijostyn
The .3 dB limit of human hearing is right on. I spend hours adjusting frequency response in 0.1 dB steps and in direct comparison 0.3 dB is the limit of my hearing's ability to detect changes and this is switching back and forth between different curves.
If you really want to improve the performance of your system and learn what you are doing in the process get one of these and get down with it.
https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-OmniMic-V2-Acoustic-Measurement-System-390-792

You will not find anything useful with the microphone, because when you reverse the wire, there is no change in the electrical signal at the speaker terminals.

As for linearity, its value is greatly exaggerated. There is absolutely no need to make the linearity of the system with an accuracy of 0.3 db, much less 0.1 db. If it was so important for perception, we would not be able to enjoy listening to cassette recorders, receivers, and so on. By our nature we automatically adapt to changes in the frequency response within a wide range, this is how our perception works. Adaptation to changes takes a few tens of seconds, after that we get used to the new reality and the new frequency response becomes "transparent" for us, it does not interfere and does not help us to perceive music, it just becomes a kind of reference point, relative to which we perceive sounds..

This statement is easy to verify, if you have timbre controls in the system, turn the controls a bit, spend 10 minutes listening calmly and analyzing impressions, make a conclusion.

And do not forget that the linearity of our hearing changes depending on the volume - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness. Why do you set up a system with an accuracy of 0.1 db if with a small enough change in system volume, the linearity of your hearing changes by several DB? Isn't it stupid?


anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
eagleeye
I believe, that when a Cable exhibits Directionality to RF signals, that it would also exhibit Directionality to audio signals, & Vice Versa!.

No doubt. I would add the digital cables Directionality here.

The method that I outlined provides Documentation that a specific Cable Design exhibits or does not exhibit such Directionality to RF Signals.

I think because of relative complexity of the method in comparison with this simple schematics, it probably lack the sensibility, otherwise it would be obvious, that each wire has directivity together with certain unique coloraition.

Think about all of the harmonics & sub harmonics of the 60 HZ line frequency that is all around audio equipment. It's likely that some cables pick up this noise, which is then further amplified in downstream amplification stages & may well be heard, with some Cable designs.

Then there is the host of digital signals & their sub harmonics that proliferate in this digital world we live in today, that may have to be dealt with. Yes, it boggles the mind & Audio Needs all the help it can MUSTER TO PROVIDE THAT ULTIMATE SOUND QUALITY that all here strive for.

Note that some here go as far as isolating & raising speaker wires off of the ground, with sworn improvements in sound quality.

I know the fenomenon and some similar ones, for instance the difference in SQ arising from different methods of mounting radio components of the amplifier - a modern one when radio components lying on a circuit board and outdated point to point wiring where the components do not touch the board and each other. The point-to-point sounds more openly and naturally.

But it can't be be related to RF unless we somehow feel the RF directly from environment. Speakers can't reproduce RF signals, and the indirect influence of RF in well designed amps is much less than we can hear.
invalid
1,228 posts
 
If there is a difference in sound when you change the direction of wire, I wonder if it would be measurable if all the wire in the complete system were orientated in the correct direction? I'm talking about the wire in the components as well as the power cords, interconnect cables, speaker cables, and wiring inside the speaker.
anton_stepichev OP
150 posts
 
@invalid
If there is a difference in sound when you change the direction of wire, I wonder if it would be measurable if all the wire in the complete system were orientated in the correct direction?

The difference in SQ is obviously exist but it can't be measured by electrical measurement device. All metals are electrically symmetrical and remain so regardless of the mechanical deformation they receive during the manufacturing process. You can turn them all in any direction you want, and nothing will change in its electrical behavior. That's the whole mystery.
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,195 posts
 
As for linearity, its value is greatly exaggerated. There is absolutely no need to make the linearity of the system with an accuracy of 0.3 db, much less 0.1 db. If it was so important for perception, we would not be able to enjoy listening to cassette recorders, receivers, and so on. By our nature we automatically adapt to changes in the frequency response within a wide range, this is how our perception works. Adaptation to changes takes a few tens of seconds, after that we get used to the new reality and the new frequency response becomes "transparent" for us, it does not interfere and does not help us to perceive music, it just becomes a kind of reference point, relative to which we perceive sounds..

This statement is easy to verify, if you have timbre controls in the system, turn the controls a bit, spend 10 minutes listening calmly and analyzing impressions, make a conclusion.
Very important point to meditate.....

The CORRELATIONS  for example between physical acoustic and psychoacoustic are anything except linear...It is deeply non linear...

Personaly i think that there is an unknown participation of the consciousness to the phenomena that we miss "systematically" in viewing  the object always separated of the subject or in an "external" relation only...


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