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Directionality of wire

I am a fan of Chris Sommovigo's Black Cat and Airwave interconnects. I hope he does not mind me quoting him or naming him on this subject, but Chris does not mark directionality of his IC's. I recently wrote him on the subject and he responded that absent shunting off to ground/dialectric designs, the idea of wire directionality is a complete myth. Same with resistors and fuses. My hunch is that 95% of IC "manufacturers", particularly the one man operations of under $500 IC's mark directionality because they think it lends the appearance of technical sophistication and legitimacy. But even among the "big boys", the myth gets thrown around like so much accepted common knowledge. Thoughts? Someone care to educate me on how a simple IC or PC or speaker cable or fuse without a special shunting scheme can possibly have directionality? It was this comment by Stephen Mejias (then of Audioquest and in the context of Herb Reichert's review of the AQ Niagra 1000) that prompts my question;

Thank you for the excellent question. AudioQuest provided an NRG-10 AC cable for the evaluation. Like all AudioQuest cables, our AC cables use solid conductors that are carefully controlled for low-noise directionality. We see this as a benefit for all applications -- one that becomes especially important when discussing our Niagara units. Because our AC cables use conductors that have been properly controlled for low-noise directionality, they complement the Niagara System’s patented Ground-Noise Dissipation Technology. Other AC cables would work, but may or may not allow the Niagara to reach its full potential. If you'd like more information on our use of directionality to minimize the harmful effects of high-frequency noise, please visit http://www.audioquest.com/directionality-its-all-about-noise/ or the Niagara 1000's owner's manual (available on our website).

Thanks again.

Stephen Mejias
AudioQuest


Read more at https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-15-audioquest-niagara-1000-hifiman-he1000-v2-p...


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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Mitch
BTW, since you are newer here, I will point out the most vocal "forum expert" on this directionality subject apparently lives off the grid and listens to a Walkman, so he doesn’t even use wires.

Wires distort the sound. Didn’t you know that? Even when they’re in the right direction. I don’t drive a tank but I know its motor operates by internal combustion. Gee, I must be a tank expert.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,279 posts
 
doh!

Had ICs on the brain.  Completely overlooked SPEAKER cables, even though I copied that as part of the quote!  Thanks for unconfusing me, jea48.
terry9
2,212 posts
 
@jea48   

Not to speak for George, but speaking for myself, yes, in some cases your ears will detect a difference, such as loss of dynamics or non-repeatable distortion. When you investigate with a 'scope, you will find high frequency trash being amplified along with the signal, which will compete for power allocation within the amp (causing loss of dynamics), or it may beat against the signal (causing distortion). Thus we have an aural effect which can be easily measured.

This method of connection (shield to the insensitive end) has been used in pro audio since Cain first cryo'd Able's tubes. 
fsonicsmith's avatar
fsonicsmith OP
931 posts
 
When it comes to cables, I am open to the majority of concepts that can't be explained or measured by electrical engineers. I DO find it difficult to ignore the advice/philosophy of the maker of the cable on hand. Until recently I was using Chris Sommovigo's Airwave single ended cables between my tubed preamp (Audioprism Mantissa) and tube amp (ARC VS110). I liked the sound I was getting without any experimentation of cable orientation. The sound was not as etched/precise as through my Homegrown Audio Silver Laces but not specifically lacking in any regard. Now, Chris just shipped me a pair of balanced Airwaves to go with my new ARC Ref 6 and ARC Ref 150se. Maybe this time I will experiment. What is one to do with unmarked cables, there are 4 possible combinations of orientation if my rudimentary math skills are correct and I don't know that four combinations can be remembered well from an auditory-brain standpoint. Not knowing when my custom made (one man operation!!!) cables would arrive from Japan, I bought an $80 pair of Mogami Gold Studio XLR's too. I bet they will sound fine. Guess what-no directionality is labeled. Oh no, that means the recording studios are F'ing up too! OK, that was weak-recording studios DO F up the recordings we nonetheless shell out our hard earned money for and suffer. 
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cleeds
5,645 posts
 
georgehifi
With today’s quality RCA interconnects, it’s because most of them use 2 core inner cables "with an earth shield only connected at one end."
This end should be leading to the poweramp end of signal direction ...
That isn't consistent with what manufacturers recommend, and neither is it what has worked best in my system.


 
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