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I just found out my RCA cables are in the "wrong direction"......Looks like the world WILL end...

post #1 of 10
1/2/12 at 11:29am
Thread Starter 

Yep, I saw this morning that my 20 year old Monster RCA cables from both my CD player and my Tuner to my AMP were in the wrong direction.....(Grounding and shielding are the issues and reasons for the arrows on the cables apparently....I have never heard any "noise" from my setup though.) I did not even know the cables had arrows on them before today, and did not know about the shielding issue with them at all until now....Even though I have never had any "noise" issues from them being in the wrong direction, I still went through the trouble of reconnecting them in the right direction.....

 

The world is safe now, the "Homeland security cable connection alert system" can now be brought back to normal ;) ;) ;)

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post #2 of 10
1/2/12 at 1:22pm

Hehe...

 

How do you know that the arrows are even in the right direction?

 

wink_face.gif

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post #3 of 10
1/2/12 at 1:46pm
Thread Starter 

I also checked the direction of the writing on the cables, which is also an indication of the "direction"....Granted both the arrows and the writing "could" be wrong, but the odds are pretty low of that.

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post #4 of 10
1/2/12 at 8:22pm

I tested two "directional" Audioquest cables once using a mixed mode ANOVA - I took samples at 916 frequency points over 10 trials for each configuration I found a consistent statistically significant difference between the two "directions", before you get too excited it was an average of approximately 0.001db for one cable and 0.002db for the other..the biggest single difference at any frequency point was 0.022db

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post #5 of 10
1/2/12 at 9:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nick_charles View Post

I tested two "directional" Audioquest cables once using a mixed mode ANOVA - I took samples at 916 frequency points over 10 trials for each configuration I found a consistent statistically significant difference between the two "directions", before you get too excited it was an average of approximately 0.001db for one cable and 0.002db for the other..the biggest single difference at any frequency point was 0.022db



 

So I presume that small difference is from RF noise issues from the source that was better compensated for when they were in the correct "direction"?

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post #6 of 10
1/2/12 at 10:12pm

The world will end on December 21st, 2012 when a CERN scientist purchases a new directional cable for the LHC, and accidentally plugs it in backwards.

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post #7 of 10
1/2/12 at 10:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeno View Post

 

So I presume that small difference is from RF noise issues from the source that was better compensated for when they were in the correct "direction"?



who knows - I have old ungrounded wiring - but that is speculation

 

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post #8 of 10
1/3/12 at 7:16am



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Head Injury View Post

The world will end on December 21st, 2012 when a CERN scientist purchases a new directional cable for the LHC, and accidentally plugs it in backwards.

No.  That is absolutely incorrect and absurd.

 

The machine will be removed from service prior to that so that they can fix about 11 thousand solder joints such that they will be capable of the full 13 kiloamps for full energy runs...a 1.5 year effort.

 

The end of the world scenario has been postponed until late 2013 or early 2014.  Didn't you get that memo??

 

Cheers, jn

 

 


Edited by jnjn - 1/3/12 at 7:25am
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post #9 of 10
1/3/12 at 10:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeno View Post

Yep, I saw this morning that my 20 year old Monster RCA cables from both my CD player and my Tuner to my AMP were in the wrong direction.....(Grounding and shielding are the issues and reasons for the arrows on the cables apparently....I have never heard any "noise" from my setup though.) I did not even know the cables had arrows on them before today, and did not know about the shielding issue with them at all until now....Even though I have never had any "noise" issues from them being in the wrong direction, I still went through the trouble of reconnecting them in the right direction.....

 

The world is safe now, the "Homeland security cable connection alert system" can now be brought back to normal ;) ;) ;)



If they are 20 years old then you should leave them that way. The magic crystals have had time to align, and you'll only mess things up by switching them back. Although to be sure, you should probably allow them to burn in for 10 more years before a real "critical" listening.

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post #10 of 10
1/4/12 at 1:09am

Also, cover them in ERS paper. Come back, Patrick82! All is forgiven (snigger)...

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