Simple question, or is it...

Audio signals are mundane there's no miracles involved. No E=mc^2 we aren't splitting atoms. Audio signals aren't sound they are representations of sound in the form of electrical waves propagated through a conductive material in most cases copper. If you want a visualization for a history major on physics try Brian Greene "The Elegant Universe ".  Let's return to the mundane question of audio signals and leave the miracles for religious charlatans there's enough charlatans in audio as it is. 

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

I've been doing a lot of reading mainly here the link jea48 gave.

 http://amasci.com/elect/poynt/poynt.html
 
The great thing about this link is there are a whole lot of other articles besides the one on Poynting vectors. 
Two things are at play the charge flow in the wires which is very slow and forms a circuit. Measured in amperes which is "one Coulomb of charge flowing per second". So far so good.

Also there is Energy flow which flows between and around the wires measured in watts, a quantity of electrical energy flow per second. Energy is measured in Joules so 1 joule a second is 1 watt.

 What is electrical energy, it's made of electric fields and magnetic fields, Electromagnetism. These two things flow in a circuit at the same time. Charge flow in the wires very slow in a continuous circuit and energy flow outside the wires from the source to the load. 

We're left with one thing What are Joules?  Joules of Electric energy are made from Electromagnetism they are flying around between the source and load and are the same stuff as radio waves but in this case they ATTACH  themselves to the wire and FLOW along the columns of movable electrons in the wire, the charge flows in the wire slow, the energy flows outside the wire at almost the speed of light and the Joules flow in the electron columns carried with the energy. 

Toss in some Babble verses and it's a show that never ends.

That was in response to this 


"

That which is hidden from the most learned is revealed to mere children."

I doubt anyone has a stereo system in a vacuum. Anyway speaker wire doesn’t carry audio signals but an electrical description of the audio. That electrical pulse is carried in the wire mostly the outer 1/3 of the wire.

Why wave the white flag, you're right the Joules which are in the electromagnetic wave are in the wire. The wire carries the signal, the signal isn't the energy flow. At least that's the take I'm getting from all those links jea48 posted. Well other papers from the link. 

I never said the amplifier created the audio signal. OK wave not pulse, pulse would be digital. The point I was making is an " audio signal" in wire is an electrical description of that signal and it travels in the wire mostly the outer third though all of the wire carries it especially if the speaker wire is no more than 1/2 inch thick. 

No it's an electrical description of the audio signal of the analog sound. Making the electricity vary between positive and negative at the speed and amplitude of the sound makes the speaker reproduce the sound. It's continuous but not in a linear way more like a varying pulse. Just like digital is a description of the audio signal in binary sent in packets the sum of which is a stream to a DAC or speaker if it's an active speaker. 

Uh yeah OK, you've lost me.  coaxial cables are transmission lines. I don't  think to many people use them RG6 or RG59 as speaker cables or interconnects I suppose they could. 

I don't think anyone uses transmission lines for interconnects or speaker cables. 

Well that's where Poynting vectors come in, transmission lines. 

OK, you're beyond me. It has to do with flow of energy in EM field or something but I don't see how it has anything to do with the question of what's an audio signal and what's it travel through. 

OK but when you aren't using coax cable the energy doesn't flow through the dielectric? 

An audio signal is a representation of sound using electrical voltage in analog and binary in digital. That's  the first part. 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_signal

The medium it travels in geoffkait explained above.

, if I’m not mistaken and I don’t think I am, that means the EM wave travels INSIDE the conductor. The E and M fields lie outside the conductor. They are stationary all along the length of the cable or wire. That explains why the type of metal, the purity of the metal and the physical non-symmetries of the metal influence the sound.

Audio signal is electrical waves that represents sound waves in analog in digital it's binary.

The actual transfer mechanism is a transfer of electrical charge within the wire. This is called elecrical current. The speed is irrelevant, since it can transverse your room in a tiny fraction of a

This is where I get lost. The "charge flow" which is current is very slow it doesn't travel across your room in a tiny fraction of a second, the "energy flow" which is a different thing travels close to the speed of light. 

I don't wonder why AQ polishes their wire and of course they have a reason. 

No. It's old stuff. The reasons can be found in a marketing 101 course. The more I read about "electricity" the more satisfied i am with my basic cables. 

Those links from jea48 has some very good information in them though I don't think they say what he thinks they do. I think they agree more with what you've been saying though it doesn't get into directional or sound characteristics. The signal isn't in the energy it's in the wire.

It’s also known as learning.

Do I have biases? Of course we all do. The question is how can I figure out is it my bias or is it something else. I've  already tried the , is this cable better? Is this DAC better? Game. I found out I couldn't tell humpty from dumpty. So yes diving into all this about how electricity works doesn't really confirm my bias it confirms I let my bias control me for to long. 

@jea48

The majority of my posts on the subject have been quotes from articles and white papers. My comments have been in reference to the quoted material.

This is from your links as well how do you explain it?

http://amasci.com/elect/vwatt1.html

HOW CAN THE ELECTRONS FLOW SLOWLY, WHILE ELECTRICAL ENERGY FLOWS FAST?
Wires are always full of movable electrons (all metals are.) The electrons act something like a liquid or fluid: they act like a substance. Electrical energy is less like a substance. Instead the energy is waves which travel through this "electric fluid" or "charge-substance" within the wires.

This topic can be confusing because some books tell us that the electrons are the electrical energy. Or perhaps they’ll say that a current is a flow of energy. Those books are simply wrong.
Electrical energy can move quickly along a column of electrons inside a wire, even though the electrons themselves move slowly. All metals are always full of electrons.

Note that with the battery and bulb, the joules of energy flowed one way, down both wires. The battery created the electrical energy, and the light bulb consumed it. This was not a circular flow. The energy went from battery to bulb, and none returned. At the same time, the charge-stuff flowed slowly in a circle within the entire ring. Two things were flowing at the same time through the one circuit. There you have the main difference between amperes and watts. The coulombs of charge are flowing slowly in a circle, while the joules of energy are flowing rapidly from an "energy source" to an "energy sink".

But what are Joules? That’s where the electromagnetism comes in. When joules of energy are flying between the battery and the bulb, they are made of invisible fields. The energy is partly made up of magnetic fields surrounding the wires. It is also made from the electric fields which extend between the two wires. Electrical-magnetic. Electromagnetic fields. The joules of electrical energy are the same "stuff" as radio waves. But in this case they’re attached to the wires, and they flow along the columns of movable electrons inside the wires. The joules of electrical energy are a bit like sound waves which can flow along an air hose. Yet at the same time, electrical energy is very different than sound waves. The electrical energy flows in the space around the wires, while the electric charge flows inside the wires.

This is saying that Energy flows outside the wires, Charge flows inside the wires but part of that energy, JOULES of electrical energy, are attached to the wire and FLOW with the electrons.

I guess I just don't get it. If there is no electrical energy in the wires only outside, then what moves the charge? What causes charge flow? 

For electrical energy to move electrons and produce a flow of current around a circuit, work must be done, that is the electrons must move by some distance through a wire or conductor. The work done is stored in the flow of electrons as energy. Thus “Work” is the name we give to the process of energy.

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/dccircuits/electrical-energy.html