[qqchewchew]

Just wondering. Does anyone ever use cat5 cables as power cables/to recable headphones? After seeing that denon cat5 scam cables on amazon it got me thinking whether its actually viable

 

[qqchewchew]

upsy daisy

 

[Currawong]

What scam cables were those?

There's a cat5-based speaker cable you can create, but it's useless for interconnects or similar.

 

[zmorris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif What scam cables were those? There's a cat5-based speaker cable you can create, but it's useless for interconnects or similar.

denon cat5 audiophile - Google Search

Denon USA | AK-DL1

 

[DJGeorgeT]

now that may be the answer to all my interconnect problems and my day and night prayers for audio purity.

 

[juswyq]

Ever seen this?

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Denon AKDL1 Dedicated Link Cable

i thought it's pretty funny

 

[ericj]

Yes.

And it's a terrible idea.

Especially if you use the solid cat5.

 

[Faust2D]

Poor Denon........poor greedy Denon

I only read about making speaker cable out of cat5, never headphone cables.

 

[TopPop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faust2D /img/forum/go_quote.gif Poor Denon........poor greedy Denon I only read about making speaker cable out of cat5, never headphone cables.

What would be the difference?

By the way, I'm not being antagonistic; I would really like to know.

 

[Nagasaki_Kid]

I remember hearing someone on the forum recabled a pair of ksc75 with cat5 awhile ago with good results for sound ,but found the cable too stiff for portable use.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faust2D /img/forum/go_quote.gif Poor Denon........poor greedy Denon I only read about making speaker cable out of cat5, never headphone cables.

I make my speaker cables out of extension cords - orange ones!

As for the Denon cable - what infuriates me is that i can't find any mention of what sort of signal they push over it.

Yeah it's got RJ45 connectors but that doesn't mean it's ethernet.

in order to properly criticize their cable pricing, i need to know what they're using it for.

 

[Faust2D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif I make my speaker cables out of extension cords - orange ones! As for the Denon cable - what infuriates me is that i can't find any mention of what sort of signal they push over it. Yeah it's got RJ45 connectors but that doesn't mean it's ethernet. in order to properly criticize their cable pricing, i need to know what they're using it for.

Some receivers have digital inputs via these RJ45 ports called Denon link, I bet that's the use for it.

Quote:

DENON LINK is a digital interface that uses high-speed transfer elements made possible with balanced transmission to achieve high-speed, high-grade digital transmission in real time and with negligible signal degradation. DENON LINK enables direct transmission of PCM 24-bit, 192-kHz digital signals, jitter-free and with high SN, from DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD, and other sources featuring high speed and high sound quality. In addition to maximizing the high-quality sound reproduction capabilities of amplifiers and DVD players, DENON LINK set-up is as easy as connecting a cable.

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopPop /img/forum/go_quote.gif What would be the difference? By the way, I'm not being antagonistic; I would really like to know.

in a speaker cable you want EXCEPTIONALLY low inductance. The cable is effectively an inductor in series with the speaker. This is a problem because it creates a low-pass filter at some random frequency. In easier terms: the cable can reduce the highs.

When you see these "many many strand" speaker cables the design usually focuses on minimizing this cable inductance although often at the expense of flexibility and parallel capacitance.

Parallel capacitance is not too difficult of a problem for a power amp to overcome. Unless its sadly underpowered a few thousand pf of cable capacatance is insignificant. The flexibility dosnt much matter because you drop the cables down and there they stay.

On the headphone front things are somewhat different.
an overly stiff cable is a pain in the arse. maybe its worth tolerating for some things, but some cat-5 speaker cables would not allow you to move your head freely while wearing the headphones.

the inductance of the cable is SLIGHTLY less important than in a speaker: the lowest impedance headphones commonly used are about 25-32ohms, and the inductance has less of an effect when in series with this kind of load. on a medium impedance headphone or up (100ohms or more) you basically have to try to get cable inductance to screw up the sound.

and lastly, as hinted above the capacitance can have ill effects on less powerful amps. Headphone and speaker amps are often differentiated by as simple a denomination as power output and "noise levels." Speaker amps can just "power through" the extra capacitance from a cat-5 type speaker cable, but there are surprisingly few headphone amps that can really break through that.

with any signal or power cable a balance needs to be struck. too much of one thing which isnt important costs you something else you probably want...

 

[Currawong]

I know it's OT of the original question, but if the Denon Link doesn't user error correction at all, then I can understand the need for a higher quality cable. The reason you can get away with cheap cabling on computer gear is that everything uses error correction.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faust2D /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some receivers have digital inputs via these RJ45 ports called Denon link, I bet that's the use for it.

Sounds like I2S over LVDS. cat6 oughta do it.