[ilikemonkeys]

I cant do a search because "cat" isn't a long enough word to allow for a search.

Anyone use cat 5 as speaker cable? I braided four together, soldered the ends to some cheap radioshack banana clips and they sound alright! I have no complaints. The low end is a bit lacking, but they seem to drive my 12" infinity's enough to be effective. the high's are very crisp and acoustic guitar is fantastic. I did this for only about $7 USD. Anyone else tried this?

Or could you link me to a thread where this has been thoroughly covered?

Bill

 

[pbirkett]

I used to have CAT5 cable on my speakers. To be blunt it was crap, and any decent $5 speaker cable would be better. It simply could not do decent bass, and the rest of the frequency response was overly laid back and etchy at the same time.

This is one DIY cable I could never recommend IMO.

 

[ilikemonkeys]

wow

 

[MacDEF]

A search for "cat5" brings up a number of results

 

[00940]

i made a set of cat5 speaker wire. With 15pairs braided together. They sound really, really good. They replace cheap wire, so it gains on everything, it's hard to comment

The most dramatical improvment is in the detailled high midrange-highs

design here : http://www.mejiatryti.com/SpeakerCable/

it's time consuming (about 15hours for a 12 ft pair) and not so cheap (about 40€). Mine are terminated by banana plugs. At the amp end, i have adaptors made of female bananas and high quality speaker wire.

 

[zbuddah]

i was also going to try the braid until i read more carefullly and realized i need 15-27 pairs for a wire.... i had two cables for my pair and that comes out to 8 pairs total

not even enough to make one... i'll try it when i get a part time job or something....

need funding!!!

 

[aphex944]

Someone I know that used to work at Cary used 25-pair CAT5, and said it sounded just as good as Kimber.

 

[mojoman]

Here's an article about using cat-5 to build speaker cable.
I made some Triple-T cables using cat 5. They were fair but you could achieve the same level of sound with a 14 guage copper speaker wire from Lowes.

 

[DanT]

here Chis VenHaus Design

He said
Quote:

In direct side-by-side comparisons I found this cable to be sonically better than Audioquest Midnight, Straightwire Maestros, and even equal to or better in some areas than the Kimber 8TC in my system.

 

[ilikemonkeys]

My cat5 is only 10 pair and six feet long. Sounds like the majority of you all agree that it has its place in the world of speaker wire. I can get it down the street for about 10 cents a foot, so I might just try a 15 or 25 pair thing this weekend. Yes I do have a lot of spare time.

Bill

 

[J.Y.]

There are quite a variation of CAT5 cables out there on the market, so be careful of what you choose.

I have even came across some non-copper material in cat5 cables. There are also variations in stranded and solid core. I personally is a fan of solid core.

Different varations of braiding also affect the sound quite a bit. The tightness of the braid and the number of wires all affect the sound.

The general rule to follow is that, within a certain range, the more conductor you put into a braided speaker cable, the smoother/powerful the sound would be.(I start to get high freq. round off around 12AWG) The braiding usually adds a sweeter sound to speaker cables as opposed to non-braided designs, and that non-braided cables usually offer better transient response and concentration.

 

[Andrew Pielet]

For a DIY speaker cable, Chris Venhaus design is pretty good, and not that expensive. It is quite tedious with all the braiding, but worth the time and effort. I agree w/ the post that it is equal to 8tc in some areas, but I never found it to be better. I have 8tc, so I'm happy. I suggest to try it, but use the same desing as on the site, it has been tested and is the best out there (for cat5).

 

[zbuddah]

just letting you know of a cheaper source to get them.

http://www.compgeeks.com/products.as...twork%20Cables

cat6 cables for $45/1000' = $. 045 per foot
cat5e cables for $36.50/1000' = $.0365 per foot

call in to make sure they are teflon insulated since it wasn't mentioned but I'm pretty sure it is, I haven't seen any Cat cables that aren't insulated in Teflon. The sheath is probably plenum or other material but you won't need the sheath anyways.

Goodluck and be kind to your fingers haha

 

[Matt]

Quote:

Originally posted by zbuddah I haven't seen any Cat cables that aren't insulated in Teflon.

I don't know about that...for instance, you can get stuff right now at a Home Depot or Lowe's that has other dielectric. However, I have gotten Cat 5 with the Teflon FEP dielectric from Home Depot before...and the prices are low, like $0.09 - $0.22/foot. Hell, I've gotten stuff from Lowe's before that was $0.07/foot.

If you go this route, call the electrical department, get the model numbers for their stuff (usually the dude there doesn't *really* know what he's talking about) and research the stuff online. If you find something insulated with FEP, go for it.

- Matt

 

[00940]

I'd like to hear a cat5 made with teflon insulated. Teflon is forbidden in Europe and we have to use polyolefin coated cat5. I'm wondering how big the difference is.