I bought a used pair of Silverline Audio's Conductor cables. Plugged them in and was very pleased with the neutral sound I was getting. Bare wire to the speakers, and bananas on the amp end. Then I realized that the arrows on the cables where pointing towards the amp. OOPS, I reversed the path direction, and couldn't hear any difference. Zero. My preference would be to have the bananas on the amp end.
Can I disobey the arrows, and run the cables effectively backwards?
You guys are hilarious. Speaker cable directionality - it IS possible to intentionally design and construct a "directional cable", but not as a passive device. Think about it: does your directional cable possess differing impedance in either direction? If so, how is that accomplished? (hint - it's not).
Then there is the issue of signal to your speakers being AC, not DC as is commonly thought. Again, please explain to me exactly how you can create or maintain directionality in an AC line?
"If you come back good, go see a shrink, they’ll help with the denial thing..."
Does a person need a psychiatrist when she/he does not hear what is not there. or the person needs to see a psychiatrist when she/he hears what is not there?
It won’t matter if you can’t HEAR the difference. I do believe that is the point. Some people can hear the difference and some can’t. Still doesn’t change the fact for those who can. Some folks need to wear corrective eyewear, WHY? They can’t see as well without them.... Not hard to see the correlation, but it sure seems hard for the "Doesn’t matter group".
Ask a lefty why they can’t throw the ball right handed, because they can’t (very well). Same with hearing...
I have two arms two legs, just like MR weight lifter, why can’t I bench 350 lbs? I have two arms, and two legs.
We’re not all able to hear so good. My LF hearing is taking a shi#. Bummer, I don’t get to hear the neighborhood BOOM BOOMs as well. LOL My sub system is working great, how well do I feel it through my feet, my bottom, about 30 hz and down...Pretty good...
Before saying it makes no difference, go get a hearing test, 50-350.00 USD. Even free some places... Start there..
If you come back good, go see a shrink, they’ll help with the denial thing....LOL Don’t get all upset at me now... I got my own issues...
Note that none of the wiring (or fuses) or PC board traces in any of your components was likely utilized with any thought as to its directionality. None.
If everything was in the right direction the audible effect of reversing one cable wouldn’t be subtle then, would it?
This is ancient history, but the story goes Ted first noticed not every spool of wire of the same spec from the same supplier sounded the same. Looking into it he learned details of wire manufacture previously thought irrelevant did in fact affect the sound quality of the wire. One thing led to another and soon they were making more consistently better wire.
Around the same time he was listening and noticing the wire did sound better one way than another. No Ted was not the only one to notice this, he's just my example. You tell your story with your examples I'll tell mine with mine. Okay? Sorry. That was for the Ted haters. You know who you are.
Now before Ted went to the time and trouble to test and listen and figure all this out wire was assumed to be the same from spool to spool and regardless of direction. No one bothered to test and listen and so the wires went every which way. Seeing as even something as simple as a speaker cable has at least two wires then when nobody cares there's a pretty good chance L could be one way R the other, or + one way - the other, or both, or neither. It was all random chance.
Its like this still today. Even though this story goes back to the 1980's. Forty years ago. Hence my Twilight Zone remark. This is how far behind the times it is to question directionality.
And yet many manufacturers (and audiophiles) are indeed that far behind the times. So of course they get their random wire chaos and cannot hear any difference. Not because the wire isn't directional. Because they never bothered to figure out which direction is better. If they had the difference would not be subtle. Not at all.
Since all wire is inherently directional 🔜 speaker cables, internal speaker and electronics wires, inductors, transformers, digital cables, HDMI cables, fuses, ribbon connectors, capacitors, resistors, et al should be controlled for their inherent directionality during manufacture. The industry, sadly, moves at a snails’s pace. It probably hasn’t even got the memo yet. 🐌 If everything was in the right direction the audible effect of reversing one cable wouldn’t be subtle then, would it?
I know this for sure, if the cable comes with a project box and or a lump or a bump in the run, direction does matter.. Will it harm anything? NO. Will it change the way it works? YES, Will it change the sound, YES.
If the cable has a high pass filter, hooking it up backwards, reversing polarity, would turn the High pass filter into a low pass filter. Think about that one. A resistor and cap from pos to neg = a 6 db HP first order filter. If you reverse it, it becomes a cap and resistor, network. 6 db LOW PASS first order filter.
That network would burn out in about 30 seconds @ 20 watts....(depending on the component ratings)
Second the inductor in a network cable on the pos leg would then be on the neg leg, what would that do?.... I duno..
If it's not a network cable, one way, MAY or MAY not sound better after it settles in. The cable is all ready broke in (so to speak) so it need to settle in a bit and flow in "a" direction.. The cable will sound better in hours or days as opposed to weeks or months.
Direction matters
Be aware static discharge to the cable ends can screw thing up to.. cover the ends of unused cables. Ground yourself OUT.... Then do your work.. A simple 5 second process that VERY few observe... Why do it? It adds to the longevity and quality of the cable being installed. Handle your cables with care.......Hook the speaker end first, (why? no place for the discharge to go, if the other end is still covered) then Discharge yourself on the preamp, phono ground, unwrap the cable end and plug in.
Its like the Twilight Zone episode where the guy goes for gas and cuts through the forest and winds up in this town where everything looks the same except nobody knows anything that's happened the last 30 years.
Hilarious. Stop. Guys. Seriously. You’re killing me here.
First of all, it won’t hurt anything. At all. Impossible.
If you hear no difference run them whatever way you want.
Not all cables are directional. At least not always to the extent its obvious to everyone. Obviously.
Cables that are directional are directional. Does not matter how they are hooked up initially, or for how long, or anything like that. They simply sound better one way than another. Always. Permanently.
Cables that aren’t directional may be marked directional by manufacturers that know that is just the kind of thing certain audiophiles will notice, whether they are able to hear these kinds of things or not.
Relax, it is only a guide to when you first hook them up. It will remain as a reminder to you to install them again in this direction if you have to remove them for some reason or if you sell them. They where broken in by you in this direction.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
