Cable Current Flow Direction


Regarding cables that do not have an arrow indicating the current flow from the source to the next component in the chain:

I consider the labelled or banded end of an interconnect cable to be the source end. Is this the generally accepted norm? Some cables are just plain. But when you purchase cables with a band or label at one end, often this means something, but they rarely tell you what. Somewhere along the way I think someone told me that this is the source end. Thank you!
poetcatullus
Tls49, interesting. I'm not one to buy into the b.s.; call me skeptical but... When I had a horrible ground loop hum, I was switching everything around to try to get rid of it and accidently hooked up a pair of audioquest diamond back rca's up in the wrong direction. It actually made the ground loop hum quieter this way. Go figure.
One of the few reasons I know for directionality of a cable is if they only ground the wire internally at one end. They mark the direction so that you put the correct ground in place.
B_limo, I worked in the audio industry for 20 years, and this is what I learned from manufacturers and several technicians. The explanations were always the same. In doing a little research, I did discover another reason that I had forgotten. This is in the second link below.

Read through the “Design Basics” paragraph on this one.

http://www.audioquest.com/pdfs/analog_interconnects/diamondback.pdf

Scroll down to the “Directionally” section.

http://www2.audioquest.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/DoNoHarm-whitepaper-1222-11-r11.pdf

As far as the experience you had, I think you nailed it, “go figure.”