[Bow to Ed]

Hi all,
 
I have looked into doing this with shredded CAT5 cable. I have, however, made an audio interconnect that's about 9" long terminated in two 3.5mm connectors. It picks up an annoying level of noise especially when I place my hand next to it. Still, that's a low-level signal wire sitting on a high-impedance input (1M resistor to ground and into the input of an op amp). I tried doing this mod with a pair of no-name headphones but ended up destroying the drivers with an over-zealous soldering iron.
 
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_173164_-1
 
Recently I re-cabled my Skullcandy GI headphones [1]. I used the wire listed in the above link, which is tin plated copper with PVC insulation, 100 feet for $10. When I made the wires, I placed the raw wire in a drill and tightened it to about 6 or 8 turns per inch. I haven't measured resistance or capacitance per foot here. This wire is not liquid-flexible but it is more so than the solid CAT5 UTP. Since it's a headphone cable (located in a low-impedance section of the amplifier) then the noise pickup is non-existent. I would highly recommend this wire for a re-cabling, especially if you are confident in your soldering skills or aren't afraid of ruining your cans. I hear more details in the audio than I did when the headphones used the multi-stranded magnet wire and I like the low frequency response I hear now. Maybe it's real and maybe not.
 
Also, if you're trying to experiment with speaker cables, you could make flat cable using eight lengths of UTP. This 24 AWG wire has 0.205 square mm of cross-section area. With 16 AWG having an area of 1.31 square mm, eight pairs of wire overshoots that slightly, and can be laid flat, clamped every four to six inches with a plastic or wood clamp.
 
I'm not claiming to be a transmission line expert or a master of audio engineering. I've tried something, it worked for me, I'm reporting my findings so someone else can give it a shot. Yes, I know that lengths of CAT5 cable can often be found for free in the trash.
 
Ed

 

[psonoda]

Ok. So I am going to try to make a pair. I am using about 10 feet of cat 5. Actually two pieces so I have 4 conductors for each positive and negative. I am making a balanced cable for my HD 700. When I finish the cable I will try to measure the resistance, inductance and capacitance compared to stock cable.

 

[wric01]

Ok. So I am going to try to make a pair. I am using about 10 feet of cat 5. Actually two pieces so I have 4 conductors for each positive and negative. I am making a balanced cable for my HD 700. When I finish the cable I will try to measure the resistance, inductance and capacitance compared to stock cable.

How does it sound? i'm thinking making one too but rather than 4 conductors just one conductor each signal.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

There's different grades of Cat5 just like coax or lamp cord. The PTFE dielectric 24AWG Cat5 is usually pricier and more sought after for audio purposes. It works well as low-cost internal hookup wire for low-level power or signal. Bottlehead uses it in some of their pre-amps. I personally prefer other wire for audio purposes, but you could certainly do a lot worse. Many large gauge speaker cables come with PVC dielectric so the Ethernet cable should sound better.

Remember that doubling the amount of wiring increases the gauge size by 3. For example, 2 runs of 24 gauge in parallel would be the equivalent of 21 gauge, 4 runs would be 18 gauge, 8 runs would be 15 gauge, and so on. For a speaker cable with a + and - connection, you'd have to double this (a 15 equiv. gauge speaker cable would require 16 runs of 24 gauge, 8 for positive and 8 for negative).

Typically speaker cables are anywhere from 9-18 gauge, more commonly 14-16.