[Matt]

Hi. I've heard it said in a post here that one "cannot make Cat5 interconnects."

Why not?

I have a ton of two different types of Cat 5 and I would LURVE to try 'em out in some short lengths with RCA terminations.

Speaking of those, where do I get some? Do they have clamp-down, no-solder versions? If so, are those any good or are they *****?

Thanks for any info.

Best,
Matt

 

[chych]

www.partsexpress.com has RCAs, I suggest the Neutrik Pro Fi, or cheaper, the "scoche" RCAs. Or www.diycable.com sells Cardas RCAs, which are good.
WBTs are overpriced.

Anyways, the thing with cat5, you have to make sure it is teflon insulated, which is usually found in plenum grade cat5. It makes all the difference in the world. Belden 1585A is such a type of Cat5 that is desirable.

Also from what I have heard, Cat5 only makes a "decent" interconnect in a simple 3 pair braid. It would be interesting to try a 4 pair braid like the Homegrown audio silver lace.

 

[Matt]

...why it makes a pretty darn decent speaker wire and not a good interconnect?

Also, what about the new Cat5a or Cat6 or whatever it's called?

Supposedly it's the only thing that'll support 1000BaseT ethernet because of it's superior interference rejection braid pattern and it's casing (or whatever that jacket's called...I guess i'm likening it to sausage).

- Matt

 

[chych]

Forget Cat5e or Cat6... You want *plenum grade teflon insulated cat 5* for audio.

Cat5e is usually like normal Cat5, PVC insulated, not what you want.
Cat6 I believe has a foil shield, which you would not for audio anyway (braided shields are more popular, besides, you need to strip the whole thing down to get to the twisted pairs to braid them, trashing the foil shield).

But, you really need teflon insulating. Or better insulation, like... vacumn (read: tara labs "the zero").

Also, the geometry of the cable matters... I don't know if anyone tried the Cat5 speaker cable recipie for an interconnect, but someone has tried a simple kimber pbj style braid and only got "decent" results. Theoretically it should sound great, maybe braid it a bit more like the speaker cable braid.

 

[dngl]

WBTs are overpriced but damn do they sound good.

 

[Nezer]

I'm atempting a cat-5 plenum-based interconnect now. I will probably finish a few tomorrow but it will take a while to get them tested.

Here is what I'm doing.

1> Cut Cat-5 cable to length plus a bit more.
2> Cut back about 1 inch of the jacket; just enough to pull the wires out.
3> Trim off the cut portion of the jacket leaving a tube.
4> Stuff the tube with cotton.
5> Take a pair of the wire and wrap around the tube in a double-helix configuration. This is exactly the same as the DIY silver interconnects found here.
6> Heat shrink this together. Preferably with Teflon heat-shrink tubing.
7> Use tinned-copper braid for shield.
8> Encase it in a braided nylon jacket.
9> Solder high-quality RCA jacks. Only solder shield at source end and mark the cable direction.
10> plug-in, burn-in, and enjoy.

Now, I have absolutly *NO* idea how this will sound but I refuse to spend a fortune interconnects. The only thing I have to compare these against will be a pair of Monster Standard (tm) Interlink 200 "balanced" interconnects. When I bought these I was even peeved to spend $20USD on 1-meter interconnects.

If the above method is comparable to the Monsters, I'll be quite happy. Especially because I have about 200 ft of Cat-5 plenum left-over in a spool.

Anyone have any reasons this wouldn't work well?

 

[chych]

That could work Nezer. I would try using some teflon tape around the "Stalk" though to increase dielectrics, as I do not think the outer jacket is teflon.

A configuration I am planning on building is this, a silver lace clone:

-Strip off the outer jacket entirely, will not be using it
-Take the twisted pairs and braid them like the home grown silver lace braid, which is a 4 cable twisted pair braid.
-At the end, the clockwise cables are ground and the others are signal. Heatshrink and use some sleeving to make it look good... throw on some teflon tape too... and solder to Neutrik connectors (pro-fi and mini for my purpose).

Though that will be my portable and throw around cable, I'll be using the Jon Risch 89259 as my main cables. Also constructing 2 Chris VenHaus power cords out of 83802.

 

[Nezer]

Quote:

Originally posted by chych That could work Nezer. I would try using some teflon tape around the "Stalk" though to increase dielectrics, as I do not think the outer jacket is teflon.

That thought crossed my mind as well. Does anyone have a good source for teflon tubing that isn't the size of a pin-head (say 1/8-3/16" OD)?