Directionality of wire

Long weekend Geoff? 
I hope it was fun.
I know you can do better.

I had a ball. Too bad it wasn't fun for you. Better luck next time. I said it would be fun but I didn't say for who.

@cleeds

If by "insensitive end" you mean the amplifier end - as George stated - then you are completely confused.
I don’t think that I’m confused at all.

First, we’re talking here about single-ended connections. Pro-audio uses balanced connections.
Quite true - unless they have to connect godless consumer gear. In which case they use balanced cabling differently connected: positive wire, negative wire, shield, instead of positive wire and shield. The negative wire of the balanced cable does the the duty of the unbalanced coax shield. Which leaves the balanced shield. If it’s connected at both ends, you have a ground loop and a potential problem. So it’s connected at one end.

Second, the purpose of the extra shield is to minimize noise. One way to do that is to have all grounds at the same potential.
But that is already achieved with the negative wire of the balanced line.

To best achieve that, you need to tie all the shields together at one common point.
Not so. The shields can get in the way in a careless installation. You need to avoid ground loops.

What common point do all components in a system share? The source, of course.
Not from where I sit. Cartridge pins being the common point? Don’t think so.

My system is a bit unusual, I’ll admit, but here’s how I did it. I built a power supply for all 6 of the amps, with a central ground. The phono/pre is powered by batteries, and it floats. Everything else is on isolation transformers. There is exactly one ground point in the system: in the power supply. Interconnects consist of balanced cabling connected single ended, as I have indicated. My system is BLACK.

OMG! This just in! From the Black Cat Cable web site,

"One can hear a slight difference or change in the quality of sound when this reversal is performed, and some people claim that this difference, prima fascie, is sufficient evidence to prove that the speaker cable itself must be more efficient (or somehow otherwise "better") when oriented in one direction vs. the other. Some industry folks have even theorized that the crystals in the metal wire’s lattice are somehow diodic (a diode is like a one-way valve, permitting signal to travel in one direction but not in the other), and the orientation of these crystals within the wire will determine the appropriate "direction" to orient your speaker cable."

>>>>Wow! Talk about misunderstanding the issue. No wonder there’s so much confusion on the subject of wire directionality. That has got to be the most egregious example of a Strawman argument I’ve seen all month. No one ever suggested that wire acts like a diode and permits the signal to travel in one direction but not the other. No way, Jose!

What we ARE saying is that the sound is better in one direction than the other, due to the *unnatural* alignment of the metal crystal structure that distorts the signal in one direction moreso than the other direction. It’s like stroking a porcupine’s back, you’ll be able to stroke the porcupine’s back easier if you stroke it in the direction the quills are pointing. Photons travel more easily and without disruption when they travel along the conductor in the direction of least resistance - resistance caused by deformation of the metal crystals. Measurable difference in resistance. The difference is caused by the crystal structure deformation. One reason amorphous conductors like carbon sound quite good is that they are symmetrical and homogeneous on the atomic level, unlike drawn copper or silver, so there is no issue with crystal structures.