Does the Direction of Twisted Cable Matter?

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/cables/messages/15/152105.html
This is a discussion of that very topic just a week or so ago
And the specific answer from unclestu:
""In Reply to: RE: Wiki the 'right hand rule' for electronics, and the 'FBI' rule for left handed and decide? posted by Elizabeth on May 04, 2011 at 16:35:31

this in high school physics and it is relatively simple. Current (according to standard convention, flowing towards the positive, ignoring the fact that electrons are really negatively charged and moving in the opposite direction), moving along the direction of your right thumb generates a magnetic field that curls around like the fingers of your right hand. The direction of the magnetic spiral also moves towards your thumb, creating a counterclockwise spiral looping towards your thumb.

Winding a wire in this direction means that the magnetic induction follows in that spiral path way, sort of making the twist self inducting. Most power cables are twisted the other way, however. I have come across only one example ( a military surplus teflon insulated cable) twisted the other direction.

Again YMMV""

Yes, if you live in the northern hemisphere, you'll get better results if your cable is twisted counter clock wise... If in Southern hemisphere - then a clock wise twist would be better.

Gslone, You have it backwards. Northern is clockwise and southern is counterclockwise.

Rrog, My "BS" is based on hurricanes.

Keep in mind that we are dealing with AC waveforms, and so the directions of conventionally-defined current flow and magnetic flux lines are continously reversing.

It is my understanding that Current & Magnetic field flow through wire in a clockwise direction.

Current does not flow either clockwise or counter-clockwise. A magnetic field does not flow through a wire, it surrounds the wire in a direction defined by the right-hand rule with respect to the direction that conventionally-defined current is moving along the length of the wire.

Twisting will affect a number of electrical properties (not necessarily to an audible degree), including inductance, capacitance, bandwidth, the degree to which abrupt changes in current may be resisted, noise pickup, and noise radiation. I cannot envision a reason, though, why the direction of the twist in an AC power cord would make any difference, or at least a difference that is consistent and predictable.

Regards,
-- Al

Al, thanks for getting this one back on a well grounded plane. :-)

good one Dan_Ed

Now what about speaker cable? I found that a pair of braided cables I'm getting for my 2nd system the speaker ends were twisted counter clockwise rather than clockwise. I'm hoping I will not encounter SQ issues by the speaker ends being like this.

It doesn't matter what direction the twist goes. That is the point.