Last night i discovered...

[Rich_Guy]

BTW, the arrows should always flow with the direction of the writing on the cable.

Always -> like -> this->

Never <- like <- this <-

[Timmikid]

Audio is AC. It flows in both directions.

No, the harshness of the tweeter are the electrons blasted through your brain. With Iron Maiden they are even radioactive! Makes your head bang...

[expatmatt]

It really depends on if your system is set up to follow Conventional Flow, or Electron Flow. If Ben Franklin put the arrows on the cable, everything is probably ok.

In any case, to make sure you do this properly, as Timmikid pointed out, audio signals are AC. That means you want to actually swap the cable direction every time the signal direction changes.

Hope your arms don't get too tired.

[DrWho]

The "directional" cables just have the shield lifted on the end that is supposed to be receiving the signal. The idea is that any EMI currents get shunted back to the low impedance of the source device and don't get transmitted down stream

Exactly. It has nothing to do with electron "flow" (sic) direction.

But not all manufacturers agree which end should be lifted, e.g., Siltech, who sees it the opposite of everyone else. I reversed all my I/C's once and couldn't tell a whit of difference in noise level.

The AES48-2005 standard says to keep it connected at the sourcing device unless the sourcing device has a floating reference for the outputs (like with transformer coupled outputs).

In fact, the AES48-2005 standard mentions that it's best to keep the shield connected at both ends (to provide some magnetic field protection) unless it creates a ground loop...

[The Dude]

That my cable between my CD player and my amp was backwards.
The little arrows marking the direction of the signal flow were going the wrong way so I swapped them around.
I'm not sure if it makes a difference but it gives me peace of mind which happens to be the name of the Iron Maiden album I've misplaced
-josh

Yep putting this cable in backwards is necessary to hear those backward satanic messages in heavy metal music.

Does this work better than actually spinning Zeppelins records backwards.

[Pete H]

That my cable between my CD player and my amp was backwards.
The little arrows marking the direction of the signal flow were going the wrong way so I swapped them around.
I'm not sure if it makes a difference but it gives me peace of mind which happens to be the name of the Iron Maiden album I've misplaced
-josh

Yep putting this cable in backwards is necessary to hear those backward satanic messages in heavy metal music.

Does this work better than actually spinning Zeppelins records backwards.

Spinning Zeppelin Records Backwards.....................That's Great Duder[]

[The Dude]

I never believed this worked, but thats probably cause I kept trying it with cds. When a buddy of mine had it on vinyl and showed me, it got me wondering.

duder

[Groomlakearea51]

Just go with the flow..... [H]

[dtel]

Just go with the flow.....

I always believed that until we walked to the far end of Bourbon Street, the flow was + to +, I like a steady + to - . [:$]

[neo33]

Now, that's funny! []

[WMcD]

I agree with the good Doctor.

I remember something from the 1970's or earlier recommending that the the shield be broken at the receiving end. The theory is that we should avoid any current flowing in the shield. However, I believe this also required that the chassis (sp? - plural) of all the equipment be connected with a ground strap to ensure that they are at ground potential.

Wm McD