Sorry this should have been posted under the directional flow thread.

1) A wire is a wire and signal flow does not have a preferred direction. So from any esoteric perspective the direction flow arrows are unnecessary.

2) To the extent that a consumer grade audio interconnect (unbalanced) has its shielding (if any) connected on one side, it makes sense to connect that shielding on the originating side of the signal flow.

3) Hopefully the directional arrows on interconnects also point to the terminated (unconnected side) of the shield which would get pluged into the receiving component.

4) If you want, switch the cables direction as it can't permanent hurt anything and pick whichever sounds better.

Did I miss anything.

[This message has been edited by 73Bruin (edited December 22, 2003).]

That's about it. The arrows do denote that the shield is connected at only one end, and this is in fact a valid engineering concept. The fact that the shield is connected at only one end is the only valid reason for the existance of the arrows. Any other justification for them is "audiophile" bullshit.

The end of the cable that the shield is connected at goes to the source component. As far as how the arrows are intrepreted by the manufacturers vis a vis the shield connection is up in the air. There is no official spec as far as I know for the use of these arrows.

All this is somewhat a moot point with unbalanced connections however. The ground lead must be carried from source to destination component in an unbalanced connection, and this ground lead is what is responsible for ground loops if there is a difference in AC potential between the grounds (chassis) of the individual components. Having the shield connected at only one end only isolates shield-borne crud and groundloop generation via the shield.

In balanced connections, the shield carries the equipment ground. The two inner conductors of a balanced circuit are isolated from that ground. If the shield is broken between components, there cannot be ground loops generated through the shield. The equipment ground is not needed to be carried through in balanced connections: only the two differential signal leads are required for there to be a complete circuit.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited December 22, 2003).]