Are Cables Really Directional?

In addition, any screen current continues within the equipment, from the XLR pin to the line cord ground. LF screen currents will take the path of lowest resistance, but as frequency goes up, the current will take the path of least impedance.
If the path includes the reference ground the amplifier is using for any of the signal chain, it can inject into the signal.
John
The current will take all available paths. The current will decide inversely proportionally to the path impedances at that frequency.
 
Bruno covers this in one of his articles. Different colour wires can have slightly different dielectric properties due to minute die size differences. For most purposes this is 2 tenths of a gnats fart.
In a balanced interconnect, different color or diameter of the central two wire's insulation can cause Shield Current Induced Noise (SCID).
Shield-Current-Induced Noise
http://www.audiosystemsgroup.com/Shield_Current_Induced_Noise.pdf
http://www.audiosystemsgroup.com/SCIN-2.pdf
 
When I worked for Texas Instruments (many years ago) they had RS-232 and RS-485 cables with shield connected at the source end, at the terminal end, at both ends, and double shielded with connections at opposite ends. It was trial and error to solve noise problems with them in the early 80s. They were marked with arrows for directionality pointing from source to terminal.
 
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My cables are directional. I always send audio signal only in one direction. Typically from signal source to signal selector, then from selector to equalizer, from equalizer to preamp, from preamp to active crossover and to the amplifiers. I do not want for signal to flow any other direction.
What if audio signal decides to go into mains ac line. They will hear music in power plant, we do not want that.
 
I do not want for signal to flow any other direction.
Kirchoff worked out you need a loop for anything to flow a while back. What goes out must come back by some route.
What if audio signal decides to go into mains ac line. They will hear music in power plant, we do not want that.
The return path can and will take the PE line if the items are grounded for a single ended connection. Basic physics at play. the current drawn will modulate the AC mains nothing you can do about that, but the currents are small. Although I read a paper a while back where a smart electricity meter was sensitive enough to be able to tell what TV channel was being watched ( clearly not an LCD tv)
 
CCAW vs. pure copper reduces VC mass by A LOT. Increases resistance by a little. It does increase the dB/2.83V with the rest of the driver being equal. Fs goes up of course, and Qes overall goes down because of the reduction in mms. So no more bass than you had in the first place. Possibly more midrange. Pretty common in high power 10-12” drivers where bass extension is not paramount but output over 100Hz is, and many HF compression drivers. Not as good thermally as pure copper but you can’t have everything.
 
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I only had a green pen .... sounded grayer than black, defo not dark black ... 🙁

Luckily CCA now enhances speaker sensitivity too: https://thehifigallery.co.uk/product/dram-15-alnico/

"A generously underhung 35mm voice coil wound from copper-clad aluminum wire further enhances the sensitivity."
You use wrong pen color and audio signal will not know where to go, may accumulate at one end of wire, even explode, like some heads in this thread.
 
Towards the end of the first quarter of this century, the virtuality we live in increasingly allows different realities to coexist. It is the greatest form of democracy where everyone is allowed to pursue his own happiness in her own self defined reality.

So yeah, directional cables exist and they make a huge difference to some. Hooray.
 
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