Cable/Fuse Direction Matters?

Thanks Geoff - I guess I'm wondering if the better conductivity of silver reduces the effect of this phenomenon to a point where it's undetectable.

Regards...

Rodman99999 - ok, so if there is diode effect - it would effect one half of the signal when connected one way and the other half of the signal when connected the other way.

So would the impact be...

When the cables are connected - if the left cable is altering the top half and the right cable alters the bottom half the overall image would be distorted and the phase of the entire audible output would be shot to hell - resulting in distortion and unfocused sound

Whereas when reversing one of the cables so that only the bottom half (or top half) of both left and right channels would be effected - the resulting audio signal would have
- a near perfect top half
- a slightly distorted bottom half
- but much better phase alignment
- resulting in a significant improvement in sound

Does that sound reasonable?

Personally, I have never experienced this phenom, perhaps because I have always used occ copper in my cables, but I do appreciate that a discernible difference can be detected since so many people have reported it - it's just nice to finally understand a possible reason and what to look for.

However, I cannot see how that same reasoning can be applied to fuses

Do you have any input on that?

Thanks so much for the feedback

Ok - after giving this some thought here's what I believe might be happening...

Since all wire is directional and as such, has a slight rectification effect...

- In one direction that effect is operating on the bottom side of the AC that is being inverted - this might add to waveform inversion distortions

- in the other direction that effect will be operating on the top side of the AC - so now both the top side and the bottom side will be distorted

It's clear that changing direction effects the waveform of the rectified signal differently which results in degraded sound in one direction and better sound in the other - as to which way is best - all you can do is try it and see what sounds best

I agree with geoffkait - manufacturers should be taking this into account.

Since this effect is not witnessed by everyone might suggest that some designs negate the effect and others do not

I think it is clear that it is probably related to components/cables/fuses and most certainly individuals ears

At least I now have an understanding based on reasoning - that alone takes the guesswork out of problem solving

Thanks to all who participated.

I do trust my ears, but it's nice to understand why :-)

Question WRT directionality in silver cables...

Has anyone witnessed the same directional issues in silver cables?

Does it pertain to copper cables only?

Is the effect more, or less obvious with silver cables?

Thanks

Geoff - My thinking is - higher conductivity is a result of lower resistance - which I think would result in a lower rectification effect - but that's just my thinking - I might be wrong.

I can see where you are coming from though - you might be right

Thanks

Silver cable is also directional - A friend just told me his left channel cable got reversed in a recent move and he noticed something didn't sound quite right - restoring it to the correct direction restored the sound to it's previous quality

And his sanity :-)

Jea48 - thanks for this post - it's a very nice simplification of a very complex topic.

Wires - who wudda thunk they could be sooooo complicated :-)