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Interconnect Directionality

Have I lost my mind? I swear that I am hearing differences in the direction I hook up my interconnect cables between my preamp and power amp. These are custom built solid core silver cables with Eichmann bullet plugs. There is no shield so this is not a case where one end of the cable’s shield is grounded and the other isn’t. 

There are four ways ways to hook them up:
Right: Forward. Left: Forward. 
Right: Backward. Left: Backward
Right: Forward. Left: Backward
Right: Backward. Left: Forward. 

There is no difference in construction between forward and backward, but here are my observations:

When they are hooked up forward/backward there appears to be more airy-ness and what appears to be a slight phase difference. When hooked up forward/forward or backward/backward, the image seems more precise like they are more in phase. The difference between forward/forward and backward/backward is that one seems to push the soundstage back a little bit while the other brings it towards you more. 

What could possibly cause this? Does it have something to do with the way the wire is constructed and how the grains are made while drawn through a die? Am I imagining this? Have I completely lost my mind?
mkgus

Showing 1 response by kalali

kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
“Was my observation of the soundstage moving closer or further away based in reality or was it a hallucination”

What you’re describing is usually the result of the polarity of the connection between the source and the speakers and can also vary to a lesser degree depending on the recording of the content being played, e.g., in phase or out of phase.
It appears the polarity of the “sound” is somehow affected by how the interconnects are either made or are connected. One easy experiment is switching the + and - connections on both speakers and see if you hear a similar results.
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