[gavinbirss]

Hello,

Has any one joined the CAT-5 speaker cable craze out there.

I was thinking that a CAT-5 cable with stranded wire would make and ideal diy headphone cable for single entry headphones.

The down side may be the weight.

One might use four wires for ground and two for signal. The trick may be to use one out of each four pairs as ground and the remaining 2 wires per channel.

I guess I will only try this when my cable breaks or if I am really bored.

Gavin

 

[blip]

I haven't heard about CAT 5 being used... but you're right, it does sound like a decent idea!

 

[JMT]

Don't know about CAT-5 cable, but I built a couple of replacement cables for HD-590s using some Canare Microphone cable that seemed to work out pretty well. Since I don't own the HD-590 I am going by what the owners told me.

 

[Ebonyks]

I've used cat 5 on my beyerdyanmic 931's, and i remember it being colored, but sounded good

 

[OogeleyBoogeley]

i have used CAT5 cable in my speakers (cheaper optimus), and i think they sound great, compared to the crappy cable you buy elsewhere. my dad also uses them to power his klipsch klf-20's, with an antique sound labs amp. i also experimented with making an interconnect out of the stuff (extra laying around). i think it sounds fine, but i have never used it for my headphone cable.

-dan

 

[4fatcatz]

Just some of my experiences with cat5 cable and audio.

1) Used various brading schemes for bi-wiring my Meadowlark
Kestral II's...Not a bad cable at all. Ever so slightly lean but
detailed without harshness. I lived with them for several
months. Which is long for any audiophile.

2) Same cat5 cable as above but used as a 3 ft pair of interconnects between my Rogue preamp and Rogue monoblock
power amps....Bad, lack of bass. Cable had to much capacitance
which caused the highs to roll off. Lasted about 3 or 4 hours
in this mode.

I quess you'll never know unless you try it but keep in mind
this cable seems to have a high capacitance over longer runs.
Keep us posted on your projects. Sometimes the greatest joy of any hobby is when things that arent supposed to work do.

 

[hackeron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4fatcatz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just some of my experiences with cat5 cable and audio. 1) Used various brading schemes for bi-wiring my Meadowlark Kestral II's...Not a bad cable at all. Ever so slightly lean but detailed without harshness. I lived with them for several months. Which is long for any audiophile. 2) Same cat5 cable as above but used as a 3 ft pair of interconnects between my Rogue preamp and Rogue monoblock power amps....Bad, lack of bass. Cable had to much capacitance which caused the highs to roll off. Lasted about 3 or 4 hours in this mode. I quess you'll never know unless you try it but keep in mind this cable seems to have a high capacitance over longer runs. Keep us posted on your projects. Sometimes the greatest joy of any hobby is when things that arent supposed to work do.

Hmm, I'm thinking of doing something similar. When you used a cat5 between your Rogue preamp and monoblock, can you give some details what you did?

Did you match the impadance of the cat5 to the impedance of your connectors? (100 ohms I believe).

Also, how many pairs did you use? -- If I understand correctly, cat5 starts out at 24awg but loses 3 awg for every parallel wire - so ideally you want to use 2 pairs to get around 18awg to ensure there is no highs roll off and strong bass.

Then if you are running close to AC or any transformer or other cable that have generate interference, you need to use a shield - I was thinking of using an FTP cable (cat-5 with a foil shield).

 

[nickosha]

I realized yesterday that I needed a 1ft interconnect so I was thinking about using some cat5 I have laying around. Using 1 of each pair for ground sounds like a good idea, but if anyone knows any guides or "best" ways of making it, it would be much appreciated.

 

[FallenAngel]

Not Cat5, Cat3 as Cat5 has different twisting intervals. I have used Cat3 speaker cables, they're actually quite nice but take a few days burn-in. I think I enjoyed them quite a bit.

I would never use ethernet cable for anything except speaker wires.

 

[hackeron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not Cat5, Cat3 as Cat5 has different twisting intervals. I have used Cat3 speaker cables, they're actually quite nice but take a few days burn-in. I think I enjoyed them quite a bit. I would never use ethernet cable for anything except speaker wires.

What's wrong with cat5?

 

[NightOwl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hackeron /img/forum/go_quote.gif What's wrong with cat5?

As 4fatcatz said, the capacitance is high and may cause high frequency roll off. Using 2 pairs would actually increase the capacitance. The reduction in resistance would only benefit speaker cables. The increased capacitance has much less effect on speaker cables.
As FallenAngel said, each of the four twisted pairs has a different twist length. This is good for reducing cross talk, but the pairs with the longer twist are more susceptible to rfi.
The characteristic impedance of the cable is 100 ohms. I don't know if this would have an audible effect on single ended analogue signals, but it's not ideal for digital or balanced.
They well may exist, but I'm not aware of any 100 ohm connectors.
Most people that have tried Cat5 as an interconnect and written about it haven't liked it. YMMV.
It is highly recommended (with multiple pairs and much braiding) for use as a diy speaker cable.

 

[NightOwl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gavinbirss /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hello, Has any one joined the CAT-5 speaker cable craze out there. I was thinking that a CAT-5 cable with stranded wire would make and ideal diy headphone cable for single entry headphones. The down side may be the weight. One might use four wires for ground and two for signal. The trick may be to use one out of each four pairs as ground and the remaining 2 wires per channel. I guess I will only try this when my cable breaks or if I am really bored. Gavin

Using it the way you describe might lead to crosstalk and the introduction of rfi. I'd be inclined to take the Cat5 apart and try a single twisted pair (with the same twist length for each pair) for each channel.

 

[Eric1110]

I'm going for it. I'm going to try to recable with cat 5. The cable so far seems heavy.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Eric1110]

Ok. I just finished using Cat 5 cable recable my iGrado's. I can't believe how small the stock wire is on these headphones.

So I used humble 0.21 cents (Canadian) a foot Cat 5 cable, i did use braided shielding but that shouldn't be need if you hook the twisted pairs up correctly. The braided shielding does add a lot of weight and expense to the cables. The whole thing is covered in nylon braid. I love the look. I almost want to recable my MS2s this way.

I am shocked! The improvement in bass and detail is amazing. It like the headphones are more agile with the music. I have to go listen.

 

[ting.mike]

I actually built a HD25-1 cable using AMP CAT6 cable (better spec than CAT5), and I like it so much more than the Headphile V2 cable. The soundstage increased considerably, and the presentation is much more neutral (vs. the front mids on the Headphile).

So, yes, CAT5 is a good idea. CAT6 is better though.