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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?
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Wrong again, buddy boy. The electrons are only charge carriers. They are not (rpt not) the signal, the charge, I.e., current, itself. The charge itself is actually comprised of photons. That’s why the signal travels at near light-speed. The electrons move back and forth 🔛 at very slow speeds, as I already indicated, about one meter per hour. Thus, in fact, for AC circuits their net velocity is zero. 🤯
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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.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Yes, I know it’s confusing. To get to the bottom of things we must answer these questions,

1. What is the audio signal?
2. What role do electrons play?
3. What is current?
4. When a cable produces distortion, for example by being in the “wrong direction” or by being affected by external forces, what exactly is being distorted?
sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
Geoffy, wake up, (rpt, wake up). Get on the reality train 🚂. Photon movement in opaque substances are as fictitious a concept as Donald Trump telling the truth. Free electrons from the outer shell that move from atom to atom make up the flow of electrical current. In alternating currents, this flow is in both directions, depending on the instantaneous polarity of applied potential difference. 
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