|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
72.236.150.3
I purchased Auditorium 23 speaker cables. One pair was clearly marked for direction. The other was screwed up as it had the same markings on both ends. Gotta love the home mades. Any way, when I called the dealer they told me that it doesn't matter as long as you consistently use it the same way(ie, the end that's in the amp stays there for good) Is this right?
Follow Ups:
They are right. It doesn't matter. At all. It's alternating current.The indicators are there for those who believe it makes a difference.
HowdyYou are treading close to the line with this and previous posts. Many have claimed here that they hear a difference when swapping the direction of their speaker cables and polite discussions of why this might be are in order, but categorical denials of people's experience aren't welcome on this forum.
Also your post also glibly skips over the possibility that tho the cables may not be directional when unused, that over time with use they become directional and hence their recommendation for consistently.
-Ted
A Cables Asylum Moderator
He did not say that cables did not make a difference, he said the *direction* of the cable did not make a difference. Since it is passing AC, it's hard to see how there could be a difference. Perhaps you can enlighten us as to how, electrically, there could possibly be a difference??
HowdyI tried to point out that may warning came not entirely from the post in question, it was brought on by the sum of his recent posts on the Cables Asylum.
The substance of my warning is about the spirit of the mission statement. It's about the difference between a pronouncement of fact and an opinion. His statement "They are right. It [directionality] doesn't matter." is a statement of fact (which happens to be false in many of our experience) rather than an expressed option, for example: "I wouldn't worry about it if I were you" or "I don't know how it could matter, try it".
As the mission statement says if you want to argue about how it could or couldn't be true please visit other places (perhaps Propeller Head Plaza: http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/prophead )
To partially answer your question a search here or elsewhere will net a lot of speculation about possible mechanisms for a difference. Among them:
1) Asymmetrical shielding connections (perhaps a capacitor or such or nothing to connect it on one end.)
2) Cable isn't manufactured symmetrically, it's drawn thru dies and hence has tool marks/deformations that aren't symmetrical with respect to direction. Many cable manufacturers have varying accommodations/techniques to minimize any effects from this.
3) Since Audio isn't symmetrical (look on a scope sometime) if there are any nonlinear effects in a cable depending on it's direction it will affect audio non linearly...
But to me the obvious trump is the many reports here and elsewhere (and my own experience) where cable directionality does matter. That's what the Cable asylum is about: to share experience rather than argue about whether those experiences are valid.
http://www.soundstage.com/yfiles/yfiles200005.htm
http://www.soundstage.com/yfiles/yfiles200102.htm
More to be found here:
- http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=cable+burn-in+directionality (Open in New Window)
There might be an audible diff between 1 direction or the other.To test this leave all your gear off. Only listen for a few minutes per 'direction' and pick a 1 minute section of a track that's familiar...get some voices in that section as well.
If you can't tell a direction, then pick one & stick with it...
With new cables which i think are 'directional' it seems like one way is thinner. I don't listen to that direction.... gimme the warmer direction and let burn-in smooov it out.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: