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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...


fsonicsmith
terry9
931 posts
 
@jea48 

Solid. They came off the spool and went to the plating company. No, I did not reverse them. I did not then, nor do I now, expect there to be a perceptible difference.
I no longer spend much time on interconnects, for the reasons stated.
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
Jim, re your question about Sean's post that you quoted, I looked at all of his posts in that thread, and many of those provided in it by others.  As you alluded to, no specifics were presented, and so I have no idea as to what sort of "curious phenomena" he may have been referring to.

About all I can say about his post is that he should have said "phenomenon," not "phenomena."  :-)

Best regards,
-- Al
 
jea48
2,944 posts
 
Al,
Thanks for the response.
Jim
jea48
2,944 posts
 
terry9
498 posts                                                                           08-18-2017 4:03pm

@jea48

Solid. They came off the spool and went to the plating company. No, I did not reverse them. I did not then, nor do I now, expect there to be a perceptible difference.
I no longer spend much time on interconnects, for the reasons stated.
terry9,

thanks for the response. By chance did you read the AA link?

Re: maybe rcrump... I don’t know, but... rcrump 06:45:41 09/30/00 (11)

Solid core wire is extremely directional so just mark the end with some masking tape as it comes off the spool. Orient the wires so you have piece of masking tape at either end and terminate the wires. Throw it on a MOBIE or whatever overnight and then listen to it noting which way gives the highest image height. This is the correct orientation.

If you run the signal and return wires in the same direction you will end up with hot spots in the stage, normally at or close to the speakers, low image height and have a gaping hole in the middle of the stage...Keep in mind I am referring to the sound of the stage (reflections) not the individual instruments spread across the stage....Interconnects or speaker wires that have pianos wandering all over the stage normally have their signal and return going in the same direction....

If you run the signal and return wires in the same direction you will end up with hot spots in the stage, normally at or close to the speakers, low image height and have a gaping hole in the middle of the stage...Keep in mind I am referring to the sound of the stage (reflections) not the individual instruments spread across the stage....
https://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=cables&m=12332

When you get a chance read the jadem6 "DIY interconnect review" thread. That guy spent a lot of hours and money experimenting with different designs making ICs.
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/diy-interconnects-review#Jadem6

cheers,
Jim
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
One more comment on the guy's comment about directionality of dielectric material. He used the term polarity/directionality which is actually a bit of a misnomer since directionality isn't polarity at all. We know what correct polarity and inverted polarity are and directionality of fuses or cable or wire is neither. 

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