directional cable?

Actually, the main reason for directionality is pseudo-shielding. Anyone familiar with balanced, shielded cables and how they work understands why you can't truly shield a cable that only has electricity running in one direction. Well, what some cable manufacturers do is pseudo-balance it, and that requires tying the shield to the negative side on one end, and having it hang loose at the other.

Their is a sonic difference. When a cable is "broken in" in one direction it should always be hooked up with the flow going that direction. Reversing the cable makes it sound IMO like a new, not yet broken in cable. I have experienced a difference in sound (due to the cable being reversed) with Harmonic Technology Truthlinks and also a pair of Homegrown Audio's Super Silver IC's. It was noticable right off the bat, since I am familiar with the "broken in" sound of both IC's. I would assume that if I had left them backwards for any length of time that the "break in" would have been destroyed and that I would have had to go through the process over again. I would not go as far as to say that I have a highly detailed system, however my Musical Fidelity amp amd Castle Isis speakers clearly showed the difference in sonic signature. The only thing that I hear that does not exist are voices, everything else that I hear is definatly a part of the real world.

Many of the above indicate different reasons why cables are directional, but in reality there are multiple reasons - and I have had experience of each. The metallurgy answer is correct and this occurs as the copper is drawn. If the cable manufacturer wraps its cables, taking into account how each was drawn, either deliberately or accidentally, then the end result is a directional cable. Some high-end cable companies even treat their cables by connecting them to a current source in order to form the cable, which imparts directionality. The process of running a cable in affects directionality also, but to greater and lesser degrees depending on the aforementioned issues. And, of course, with interconnects - but not speaker cables (which was the subject of the original post) - the shield is often connected to ground at only one end, causing it to sound different in one direction from another. Ditchrecords - your friend may even become apoplectic if you were to tell him that I (and all others I know that have high resolution systems and who have tried it) have found that the mains cable used between your breaker box and the wall outlet used by your stereo is quite profoundly directional. You should not be concerned if you did not hear your speaker cables to have a direction. Some cables do not exhibit much directionality until run-in, and some don't even after being run-in. I suspect this is mainly because there are individual conductors that are directional in the cable, but that they are run in different directions when they are put together - just speculation though. However I remember reading a tweak in the UK of taking a well-known brand of cable apart and reversing the direction of one conductor and then putting it back together again - presumably because the manufacturer had not given enough weight to cable directionality.

I've seen where some directional interconnect makers say you can try using them backward to see if it sounds better. Some systems do.

Yes Sugarbrie - it depends on where it is best to make the ground. Often it is best to make the ground at the preamp, but how do you then make an IC that is good between CD and pre, as well as good between pre and power - given conductor directionality?