PumaMan Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 I've been reading through these forums and noticed that a lot of people use CAT5 cables for their speakers. Forgive my ignorance, but I thought CAT5 cables are for networking. How does one go about using CAT5 cables for speakers? Any brand suggestions, or does Home Depot/Lowes sell the stuff in spools? Also, what advantages does CAT5 have over other cable types, such as standard twisted copper? Thanks in advance for the help. I'm going into the Air Force in May and I plan on devoting a lot of my money to building a sweet system Right now I just dabble in cheap home theater stuff (such as my home-theater-in-a-box Yamaha YHT-100s, which cost me $180 and sound surprisingly good... the subwoofer sucks though) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Read all about it: http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Leeroy Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 I have run a simple set for my rear center channel without the fancy braiding and the stuff sounds great. Ready for the "Indy Blind Test" any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackBurner Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 I've not personaly spent all the time required to build these , but i do have a friend that did. Tell you the honest truth , i never notice any difference from 14 gauge OFC cable. But as system dependent as most stuff is " hey " it might work for you ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 I would be suprized if a CAT-5 speaker wire lashup could efficiently handle the current of an good audio system. It is not made to do it - it is for low-current computer network and phone service. Try larger diameter speaker wire in an A/B test and see what you think before settling on using CAT-5. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minn_male42 Posted February 19, 2004 Share Posted February 19, 2004 ---------------- On 2/19/2004 10:00:36 PM D-MAN wrote: I would be suprized if a CAT-5 speaker wire lashup could efficiently handle the current of an good audio system. It is not made to do it - it is for low-current computer network and phone service. Try larger diameter speaker wire in an A/B test and see what you think before settling on using CAT-5. DM ---------------- if you look at the above link ..... you braid three runs of cat5for each speaker... there are 8 wires of solid 24 gauge wire in each run.... 8 times 3 equals 24 wires..... you put 12 of these on each speaker post.... in effect it creates a cable of about 13 gauge..... as for the sound..... it will work with most amplifiers.... some amps cannot handle the higher capacitance that this cable creates.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted February 20, 2004 Share Posted February 20, 2004 minn_male42, Roger that. I was thinking a single cable, of course. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikwebb Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 Is the cat5 wire better than regular speaker wire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 It's better than zip cord for in-wall use, and it's twisted pair, which again makes it superior to zip cord. However, it's not necessarily better than CL-3 jacketed twisted-pair speaker wire. Nor is it necessarily cheaper (especially doing triple-runs like that) Funny, though, that Verizon insisted that I should not be using cat-5 as my phone cord connection to my DSL modem, yet I peg more signal strength on that 50-foot run from my upstairs outlet to my downstairs computer than a lot of people get using a 12-foot standard (weather resistant) phone wire plugged directly into the outside panel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFinco Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 ---------------- On 2/17/2004 12:45:33 AM PumaMan wrote: I've been reading through these forums and noticed that a lot of people use CAT5 cables for their speakers. Forgive my ignorance, but I thought CAT5 cables are for networking. How does one go about using CAT5 cables for speakers? Any brand suggestions, or does Home Depot/Lowes sell the stuff in spools? Also, what advantages does CAT5 have over other cable types, such as standard twisted copper? Thanks in advance for the help. I'm going into the Air Force in May and I plan on devoting a lot of my money to building a sweet system Right now I just dabble in cheap home theater stuff (such as my home-theater-in-a-box Yamaha YHT-100s, which cost me $180 and sound surprisingly good... the subwoofer sucks though) ---------------- I was just talking to DamonPayne about this tonight while we were watching PREDETOR 2 (no..we're not proud...). I mentioned the cat5 braiding and such and he brought up something that I hadn't considered. The RIGHT HAND RULE in physics. the "braiding" technique actually will create a magnetic field and as was mentioned affect the capacitance. in runs any longer than 10 ft. this will severely affect the reproduction of Higher notes from your speakers. Skip this technique and just use speaker wire. It seems to be another gimmic to some degree like green marking pens.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 ---------------- On 3/19/2004 3:01:01 AM RFinco wrote: I was just talking to DamonPayne about this tonight while we were watching PREDETOR 2 (no..we're not proud...). I mentioned the cat5 braiding and such and he brought up something that I hadn't considered. The RIGHT HAND RULE in physics. the "braiding" technique actually will create a magnetic field and as was mentioned affect the capacitance. in runs any longer than 10 ft. this will severely affect the reproduction of Higher notes from your speakers. Skip this technique and just use speaker wire. It seems to be another gimmic to some degree like green marking pens.... ---------------- OK - so what you're saying is that, while the magnetic field that a twisted-pair creates rejects the RF interference commonly generated by long wire runs, it also decreases the capacitance, thereby destroying the HF transmission capabilities, and yielding a net gain of ZIPPO for your audio transmission? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFinco Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 ---------------- On 3/19/2004 11:15:17 PM Griffinator wrote: OK - so what you're saying is that, while the magnetic field that a twisted-pair creates rejects the RF interference commonly generated by long wire runs, it also decreases the capacitance, thereby destroying the HF transmission capabilities, and yielding a net gain of ZIPPO for your audio transmission? ---------------- hmmm....honestly I'm not sure if its the same thing....I think the biggest difference is the fact that twisted pair is one set VS. braiding which is the biggest problem--with braiding you have the equivalent of 3 twisted pair, i.e. you have 3 distinctive magnetic fields. Griff--I would believe that you know WAAAAY more about this than I, and physics, particularly electromagnetics is not really something I know much about. I would guess that with twisted pair, that formed magnetic field is helpful-yet at a low enough level that it doesn't affect the signal adversely--while, the 3 magnetic fields of braiding cat5 line, or possibly any multiple sets of twisted pair is where the problem lies. what do you think? am I full of crap? its entirely possible..... I've been trying to do some research on this issue in the various physics websites, but man....this stuff is way confuseing...and boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 I have never seen a problem with RFI interference with regular speaker wire or zip cord. It does however manifest itself with interconnects that are not shielded or twisted pair construction. Part of this is due to the fact that the interconnects carry very low voltage signals, and any noise coming into the cable will be amplified. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 "The RIGHT HAND RULE in physics. the "braiding" technique actually will create a magnetic field and as was mentioned affect the capacitance. in runs any longer than 10 ft. this will severely affect the reproduction of Higher notes from your speakers." Actually, this is backwards. The brading and twisting randomizes the influence of each filamant's magnetic field on the other filaments, reducing inductance. Standard zip cord, with the conductors held close and parallel, is the worst for both capacitance and inductance. CAT5 will be extremely capacitive unless you use teflon insulated plenum type. Braided CAT5 has extremely good HF response; something like -1 dB around 200 kHz. I still can't hear the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 RFinco When I get my first Cat5 run done, I'll have Damon and you over to give it a comparison to 12GA. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFinco Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 ---------------- On 3/20/2004 9:13:02 AM John Albright wrote: "The RIGHT HAND RULE in physics. the "braiding" technique actually will create a magnetic field and as was mentioned affect the capacitance. in runs any longer than 10 ft. this will severely affect the reproduction of Higher notes from your speakers." Actually, this is backwards. The brading and twisting randomizes the influence of each filamant's magnetic field on the other filaments, reducing inductance. Standard zip cord, with the conductors held close and parallel, is the worst for both capacitance and inductance. CAT5 will be extremely capacitive unless you use teflon insulated plenum type. Braided CAT5 has extremely good HF response; something like -1 dB around 200 kHz. I still can't hear the difference. -Ok, at this point my Mr. Wizardian type curiosity kicks in and I'm learning--trying to understand this a bit more... -what it sounds like, in laymans terms(PLEASE correct me if I'm incorrect..at this point I'm trying to understand how this works..) that the BRAIDING in combination with the TWISTED cat5 line DOES NOT create several magnetic fields, moving clockwise--all independent of each other BUT INSTEAD the magnetic fields are to some degree "difused" by the braiding and twisted cat5? This "difused" magnetic field REDUCES inductance? doesn't this work in opposition to some of the stuff that Faraday was doing-i.e. wouldn't the increase in twists and braids actually INCREASE induction due to the greater numbers of magnetic field interactions? wouldn't this increase in induction cause changes then to the alternating current, and in turn these changes affecting the speaker's reproduction of the sound? I don't know--I'm asking..I'm not trying to be challenging here, I'm just trying to understand... -------------- ______________ When I get my first Cat5 run done, I'll have Damon and you over to give it a comparison to 12GA. JM JM-- any reason is a good reason to come over--I actually would love to hear an a/b of cat5 line vs. speaker wire. that for me, personally would put this issue to rest. I actually was going to do the cat5 braid for my fronts--i researched where to get cat5 very cheap online, and I did a mock up of the braid (i had to learn to braid to do this..). I then braided a 2 ft. section of cat5 and "encased" the braid in tubular nylon webbing for ashethics. Stripping all those TINY wires is quite a pain...finally after reading so much on it that was back and forth I said to hell with it and just bought some monster z with the pre done interconnects.... I'll bring a copy of gladiator...I really wanted to see that on your system! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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