[net.audio] Interconnect cables

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
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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!"