Directional speaker wires, what and why.


I've been aware for a long time that some speaker cables are designated as "directional". To a limited extent I can understand the rational behind choices based on wire size and construction, biwiring, etc. but don't understand how any conductor can have directional characteristics even in a DC circuit. I'm not denying the possibility but can someone please clarify this for me?

The only reason this comes up is that some time ago, I changed from spades to locking bananas on my wires. It was just yesterday that I noticed that my cables have arrows printed on them indicating, I suppose, that they should be hooked up with the arrows pointing toward the speakers from the amp. The cables in question, btw, are Straightwire Octave 2's.

I've experimented with speaker wires in an attempt to optimize my system but have never been able to discern much, if any, difference between them. That being the case, though, I now don't know whether these have been situated incorrectly since about 2004 when I bought them with my Martin Logan Odyssey speakers.

How can there be a directional character to a conductor and how does that affect sound?
128x128broadstone
Jea48 That response made me laugh! Thanks sincerely and your right. Finally sold my nightclub, also quit riding with my 1%er club, so dang i do need to get out. There used to be so many great posters in the past that i miss but guess some of us are getting old...old great posters could be a thread onto itself... but see i digress.. Grannyring you really truly think you can hear the difference in whether a cable is ran one way or the other in a double blind test? I would bet any amount you cant but that just sounds trite.. I do believe cables can be made to sound different Not better just different. Like many have said tone controls like on great old gear kind of like me. Anyway maybe i am not up to date but seriously cant believe that would make a discernible difference. By the way the best part of your system is your speakers..as in all systems they should be.
Read what I said - after burn in only. No, I am not saying anything less than what is completely obvious. After they burn in going the new direction they will sound the same again. Unless.....

If a cable is made to sound right in one direction, then those few cables will sound different backwards. A few cables are indeed wound in a manner that is directional. Try hooking up your amp backwards (with the polarity switched)and it will indeed sound different based on the way it was built. A few cables are constructed to be used in one direction, not many or most, but a few.
I back grannyring here!, cables, mmmm, well lets see, I will give a small example, The effect is more so with speaker cables, also, this depends on the model and brand of cables, we all know, all cables are not the same, I have a pair of 10 inch Tara labs omega jumpers that I use on a pair of JBL L-7 speakers that I have modded, underneath the speakers, and using these jumpers, First off, These jumpers are one of the most profound up-grades over anything else with cables, as far as I am concerned!, These jumpers did not take long at all to break-in, makes sence because they are 10 inches long, I reversed the jumpers, my wife was in the next room at the back of the house, not even a whole song went by, she come running into the listening room, she said, what did you do?, Of course, I knew, and could hear a huge diffence!, so I said, what do you mean?, she thought the system blew somthing, she asked me to put the jumpers back the same signal direction, wala!, very magical sounding to say the least., cheers.
On a hunch I switched the direction of my Analysis Plus interconnects recently and the difference was like night and day. I had read somewhere in cyberspace that the arrows on the AP interconnects should be in the reverse direction from Logic. Just goes to show how unreliable information on the Internet can be sometimes. Consistent Channelization of all cabling in the system is also quite important sonically as I found out.