I need help on directionality of speaker cables

Ryder, The stream of information is not AC and not analagous to the voltage information before encoding into digital, i.e. numbers. The numbers (information) are carryied to the next stage and then decoded back into an analagous varying voltage + or - and amplified to drive the speakers with AC current.
Bob P.

Bob, please treat this as a healthy discussion.

I am confused by your explanation. We all know that the bits are in ones and zeros(information). The question that remains is whether there is current flow in the cable. I have read from sources that AC current do flow in digital cables. Before this I had known that there must be some current to transport those bits(information) to the next stage.

Your argument is that AC is non-directional. If that's the case, how do we explain on the findings by Robert Harley in Stereophile? My logic is simple. If what he wrote is true, then this will apply to speaker cable as well. By the way, it's AC current in speaker cables am I right?

I would be glad as well if any EE would care to clear things up for us.

To the interest of the original poster, if you would care to google on "cable directionality", there are quite a few sites that touch on this article, mostly cable manufacturers. It's interesting to note of Russ Andrews claim of having verified the benefits of cable directionality with their engineers using advanced equipment and technology, but unfortunately didn't provide any technical evidence to back that up.

'If analog audio is AC, then doesn't that also defeat the purpose of direcional arrows on interconnects as well as speaker cables?'
In a nutshell, yes! BUT, the arrows (if these exist) could indicate where the shield is connected, usually at the preamp, but should always be a common place. Therefore, in a typical setup, the arrows on the cables from a turntable would point towards the pre-amp and the arrows for the cable to the power amp would point to the preamp also, which would be counter intuitive to the myth of current direction, i.e. to wards the power amp.

Quoting directly from "Electronics for Dummies" page 222, here's a bit on digital waveforms...

"Digital Waveform: A DC signal that varies between no volts (low) to some pre-determined voltage (high). The digital circuitry interprets the timing and spacing of the high and low marks."

I've also confirmed that the current carried to the speakers is indeed AC.
I'm still trying to find something difinitve regarding the signal from source (eg CD player) to amp.

'Before this I had known that there must be some current to transport those bits(information) to the next stage.'
There is current to transport the information and it is DC. The signal is essentially varying voltage representing the numbers and these stream in at a fixed rate. The current is extremely small and in one direction, which might explain why direction might count for digital transfer of info.

'Your argument is that AC is non-directional. If that's the case, how do we explain on the findings by Robert Harley in Stereophile? My logic is simple. If what he wrote is true, then this will apply to speaker cable as well. By the way, it's AC current in speaker cables am I right?'
I haven't read the article, but if he is referring to the digital cables then we have established that perhaps direction does matter with DC.
All explanations that have to do with direction of current on cables carrying alternating current stand on very shaky ground, especially for non shielded cables.

'It's interesting to note of Russ Andrews claim of having verified the benefits of cable directionality with their engineers using advanced equipment and technology, but unfortunately didn't provide any technical evidence to back that up.'
I guess they feel that we wouldn't understand the sophistry?
Respectfully, Bob P.

My understanding was that audio signals could be carried as DC, but that AC was required for speakers to allow them to vibrate in piston fashion.

They could be carried as DC but they are not (in fact the sound you hear is alternating compression and dilatation of the air in your room....there is no stream of particles reaching your ears...the air just jostles around and you pick up these vibrations).

DC is used in power supplies but 99.99% of everything that involves information flow uses either AC or EM waves. Digital signals are transmitted in much the same way as analog but at much much higher frequencies...some kind of an alternating waveform (modulated by digital information to create a set of clealry distingusihable digital states that can be decoded at the receiveing end into the same stream of mathematical bits).