prk@charm.UUCP (Paul Kolodner) (07/12/85)
After talking to audio salesmen today, I ran out and bought Monster Cable Interlink 4 cables for my preamp, amp, etc. I'm skeptical about this crap, but I'm hopelessly compulsive, with money to burn, so who cares? I noticed a little arrow on the cable to tell you which way the signal should flow. This leads to a question: Can anyone out there tell me how an electrical current can flow differently down a cable in one direction than in the other without violating the symmetry properties of Maxwell's equations? I was too embarrassed to asked the salesman, cause he seemed pretty smart...
fish@ihlpg.UUCP (Bob Fishell) (07/13/85)
> After talking to audio salesmen today, I ran out and bought Monster > Cable Interlink 4 cables for my preamp, amp, etc. I'm skeptical > about this crap, but I'm hopelessly compulsive, with money to burn, > so who cares? I noticed a little arrow on the cable to tell you > which way the signal should flow. This leads to a question: > Can anyone out there tell me how an electrical current can flow > differently down a cable in one direction than in the other > without violating the symmetry properties of Maxwell's equations? > I was too embarrassed to asked the salesman, cause he seemed pretty > smart... *** AC T YOUR AGE *** Ah, Monster Cable. Snake Oil for your audio system.... Don't you know that the only cables worth having are made of solid silver, maintained in liquid hydrogen? __ / \ \__/ Bob Fishell ihnp4!ihlpg!fish
ben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder) (07/13/85)
>After talking to audio salesmen today, I ran out and bought Monster >Cable Interlink 4 cables for my preamp, amp, etc. I'm skeptical >about this crap, but I'm hopelessly compulsive, with money to burn, >so who cares? I noticed a little arrow on the cable to tell you >which way the signal should flow. This leads to a question: >Can anyone out there tell me how an electrical current can flow >differently down a cable in one direction than in the other >without violating the symmetry properties of Maxwell's equations? >I was too embarrassed to asked the salesman, cause he seemed pretty >smart... The arrows on the cable have nothing to do with the direction of current flow. On high end cables like the Monster, the shield is only connected on one end; the arrows insure that it is grounded to the correct component. Ben Broder ..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben ..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben
herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS]) (07/13/85)
In article <691@charm.UUCP> prk@charm.UUCP (Paul Kolodner) writes: >After talking to audio salesmen today, I ran out and bought Monster >Cable Interlink 4 cables for my preamp, amp, etc. I'm skeptical >about this crap, but I'm hopelessly compulsive, with money to burn, >so who cares? I noticed a little arrow on the cable to tell you >which way the signal should flow. This leads to a question: >Can anyone out there tell me how an electrical current can flow >differently down a cable in one direction than in the other >without violating the symmetry properties of Maxwell's equations? >I was too embarrassed to asked the salesman, cause he seemed pretty >smart... first, in an AC circuit, current flows in both directions. only if your cable is a diode will this make any difference. the intra-cable diode effects are neglible compared to the contact effects, which are totally neglible unless you deliberately grow an oxide coat on the contacts of sizable thickness. what you should be paying for are heavily gold plated connectors for reliable contacts, good shielding, low resistance, inductance, and capacitance. Herb Chong... I'm user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!water!watdcsu!herbie CSNET: herbie%watdcsu@waterloo.csnet ARPA: herbie%watdcsu%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa NETNORTH, BITNET, EARN: herbie@watdcs, herbie@watdcsu
pjk@hou2a.UUCP (P.KEMP) (07/15/85)
The little arrow on the cable to indicate which way the signal should flow may be there because the cable shields may be connected only at one end to prevent ground loops. I think that the shields are supposed to be connected at the signal "sink" end and not the source end. This possibility can be easily checked using an ohmmeter or continuity checker. -- Paul Kemp ihnp4!hou2a!pjk
king@dciem.UUCP (Stephen King) (07/17/85)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The shield on these 'monster' cables is most likely connected to signal ground at just one end, yet signal ground must be connected at *both* ends, or the signal can't get down the wire. (some ac return path must be provided). An ohmeter will not show much, especially on these cables, unless it is capable of resolving differences in resistance as small as .01 ohms. Leaving one end of the shield 'flying' ensures that noise voltages will not result in a small current in the shield which could use the signal (hot) wire as a return path. -=-=-=-=-= sjk.
yrdbrd@bmcg.UUCP (Larry J. Huntley) (07/18/85)
In article <839@ihlpg.UUCP> fish@ihlpg.UUCP (Bob Fishell) writes: > >Ah, Monster Cable. Snake Oil for your audio system.... > >Don't you know that the only cables worth having are made of solid silver, >maintained in liquid hydrogen? > __ >/ \ >\__/ > Bob Fishell > ihnp4!ihlpg!fish NO!! Solid PLATINUM, minimum 00 gauge, maintained at 0.01 Kelvin. Anything else is not worth looking at, much less listening to. Next Week: REK-O-CUT Turntables -- The PROFESSIONAL's Choice! 'brd -- Larry J. Huntley Burroughs Corporation Advanced Systems Group MS-703 10850 Via Frontera San Diego, CA 92128 (619) 485-4544 "Gas music from Jupiter indeed!"