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RE: Ping, Charles Hansen

Posted by Charles Hansen (M) on January 16, 2010 at 17:26:35

In Reply to: Ping, Charles Hansen posted by jea48 on January 16, 2010 at 15:32:09:

Every time that I have decided a priori that something can't *possibly* have any effect, I have always been proven wrong by listening tests at a later date. So I end up deliberately not listening to some things because I'm not sure if I want to know the answer...

I have never listened for wire directionality. I have talked with enough people I trust to believe that it is real. Some of them think that it is part of the wire itself and is created as the wire is drawn to smaller gauges through the dies. Others think that it acquires its directionality by being played in the system.

I don't really know. I'm not sure that I want to know. We don't really want to get into some strange position of trying to make products that aren't really manufacturable or would end up costing twice as much to make as they do now.

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Please note that this is a completely different topic than RCA interconnect cables that are directional due to the way they are manufactured. In the old days everyone just used coax and one end was the same as the other. Now most companies use a twin-ax conductor that is the same that they use for a balanced XLR cable. Then there are *two* grounds. One is the shield and one is the internal ground wire right next to the hot wire.

Typically the internal ground wire is connected at both ends, but the shield is only connected at one end. Reversing the direction of these cables will determine to which component the shield is connected and will certainly make an audible (and possibly measurable) difference.

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Finally, it should be noted that we *do* orient all of our axial-leaded plastic film capacitors. When the capacitor is wound, one of the leads will be connected to the outside conductor and the other lead will be connected to the inside conductor. Orienting the capacitor in the circuit properly makes a difference in the sound quality.

It took us a while to figure out how, but we built a machine that allows us to tell which end of the capacitor is which. It is a pain, but we sort every single capacitor and mark it for the correct orientation at each point in the circuit. If we had to *listen* to every capacitor to determine the correct polarity, I don't think anybody could afford to buy our products...

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