Directionality

I can't, but Mike Vansevers can. Mike is an electrical engineer.

http://www.vansevers.com/Notes/Phase/phase.html

Good question. It would seem that 1) if a cable is directional and 2) the signal is AC then 3) the cable is going to act like a rectifier. Who wants that going on between the pre and amp with a cable? I never understood that? If you get a good answer please let me know.

I am not a very technical person, but it seems that the signal would be going in a "circle" to complete the circuit, one way through the (+) lead and the other way through the (-) lead. If this is correct then the cable is "directional", perhaps due to the grounding scheme (@ one end only) and/or if one pays attention to which direction the wire is "drawn" during the manufacturing process, then this pattern (or draw direction) would preferably be reversed on the (+ & -) leads in order that the signal "goes with the flow".

Unless there is some form of circuitry inserted into the interconnect, the notion that wire has "directionality" is mostly a myth. When wire receives an electrical signal, the voltage flows from positive to negative, and the propogation time is fairly constant. It is theoretically possible that, over time in wires with crystalline structures, there could some degree of alignment, but this would still not impair the ability of electrons to flow in the "correct" direction. Our high-end audio hobby has, particularly in recent years, seen the development of a lot of "mumbo jumbo", and "directionality" of wire falls into that category.

Someone once told me that cables don't start out directional, but they become directional after they have been used for awhile because the conductors get used to the current travelling in a certain direction (which is also why they are supposed to sound better after being broken in). You can reverse the direction by simply turning the cable around and breaking it in again. It is similar in concept to magnetizing a nail by rubbing a magnet along it many times in the same direction. To make things simpler on the customer, some cable companies put a little directional arrow on the jackets so that you always use it in the same direction. Plus they use it as a marketing tool, because it makes their cable look more "high-tech". Networked cables have their little boxes placed at an optimum point in the cable for a certain direction, so networked cables are more truely directional than other cables.

Gil