Hi quality speaker cable from Cat5e?

LazyManc · 23 Jan 2006 at 21:07

Anyone tried making DIY speaker cable from Cat5? Looks like the quality is superb for the price, it's certainly something im considering for any bi-wiring experimenting.

Further details...

commited · 23 Jan 2006 at 21:17

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/triple_t_e.html

I'm making them next week. Heard them in a friends system and was very very impressed. Not good for long runs though.

Flibster · 23 Jan 2006 at 22:59

commited said:
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/triple_t_e.html

I'm making them next week. Heard them in a friends system and was very very impressed. Not good for long runs though.

Errrm...very good for long runs tbh.

Cat5e is designed to carry data connections over 1000ft lenghts without losses....I'd rate that over normal speaker cable tbh.

I'm running 3 cat5 strand 16m cables in the bedroom and they're superb - damn site better than shorter lengths of cable I tried that was a hell of a lot more money.

You just need to make them properly. 16m's of platting take a while - you have to start with ~20m of cable to make a 16m one. :eek:

Stick on a DVD while making them - time soon whizzes by. Also - if you're making the 3 strand stuff - mark the strands before you start - saves a lot of hassle at the other end. *learnt the hard way*

Simon/~Flibster

commited · 23 Jan 2006 at 23:08

I'm just going by what I have read on countless sites that know a lot about these things. It has to do with the internal resistance I believe.
And yes, I rate them highly, after comparing them to much more expensive cables.

9designs2 · 23 Jan 2006 at 23:19

I made some up several years ago, didn't quite have a twisted triple, more a twisted pair I think. Would agree with the sound sum up, they do have an open and very clean sound. The top end will show up of exaggerate any sharpness. I would be very careful with using them is a bright or slightly aggressive system. Perhaps they won't suit metal dome tweeters. Bass was clean/lean and quite detailed, if you suffer a bit of muddy/boom bass sound this might help.
I had a heavy congested sounding room so they helped balance it out. Since moved and gone back to Linn K400.
Worth a try, takes hours to make up !!! so you can either make a set-up bass light and agressive, or clean/lean and more open....just down to system balance in the end....... have fun

Liverpool-Lad · 24 Jan 2006 at 00:56

I made some up using solid cat5 cable. Didnt enjoy stripping the 96 individual wires, but the outcome is very pleasing indeed - 8 for the tweeter and 16 for the woofer.

monkeyspank · 24 Jan 2006 at 10:12

I made some 3 x cat5e bi-wire and I'm happy with the results. It does seem a bit bright but maybe it's just bringing out the features of the amp more.

Don't worry about numbering up the cables, they all go to the same place on the amp

Just stick to using the mainly white strands for + and the mainly coloured strands for - or the other way round.

Get some of these to make stripping a lot easier:

Ugley_Matt · 24 Jan 2006 at 14:18

Little tip, don't get them plasters into your new walls and then realise that you havent stripped the ends that are going into the speaker otherwise you will be stripping and twisting the cable strands whilst up a ladder.

The voice of experience

Abyss · 24 Jan 2006 at 18:47

Have been pretty impressed with Cat5 speaker cable in the past. By far the best method is to braid individual strands as per TNT audio. However I prefer Van Damme 4mm cabling now, at £3 a meter is outperforms Cat5 in my system.

Jez · 24 Jan 2006 at 19:01

I have always used cat5 for almost allmost all my cabling, including long length scarts, s-video, and component runs. Not to mention loudspeaker cabling.

Never lets me down and never fails to impress quality wise, excellent cable

IceAx · 25 Jan 2006 at 22:12

Yup here are some that were thrown together just
for my cheap speaker/amp set up on my computer

Not the best solution for rear surrounds not too hot
under carpet LOL

Andy

Firestar_3x · 25 Jan 2006 at 22:20

New idea this, i have loads of CAT5, you guys using patch or solid core cat5?

Flibster · 26 Jan 2006 at 09:19

Abyss said:
Have been pretty impressed with Cat5 speaker cable in the past. By far the best method is to braid individual strands as per TNT audio. However I prefer Van Damme 4mm cabling now, at £3 a meter is outperforms Cat5 in my system.

But it's still 10x more expensive than cat5 bi-wire *30p/m*

-=BAF=-AXE said:
Yup here are some that were thrown together just
for my cheap speaker/amp set up on my computer

Not the best solution for rear surrounds not too hot
under carpet LOL

Andy

Using them all round *3 strand bi-wire cable* on the surround kit in the lounge and the bedroom and my playroom - sound great to me.

Kit in the bedroom and playroom is richer sounds open box specials - £100 for amp + speakers per room

Simon/~Flibster

IceAx · 26 Jan 2006 at 10:21

Yup i love the sound, some say its over bright, im not really
finding that at all, its certainly brighter than the Gale stuff
i was using.

Overall a bargain, worth the hassle to make up

Andy

Jez · 26 Jan 2006 at 12:15

Firestar_3x said:
New idea this, i have loads of CAT5, you guys using patch or solid core cat5?

All mine has been done using solid core cat5e, primarily because ive got a free drum of it

monkeyspank · 26 Jan 2006 at 16:18

I used solid. The conductors are thicker overall and it's cheaper. Not quite as flexible but that wasn't a problem for me.

Firestar_3x · 26 Jan 2006 at 17:23

Jez said:
All mine has been done using solid core cat5e, primarily because ive got a free drum of it

Thats the same situation i'm in

My audio is lacking detail so hopefully using Cat5 will sort this.

Abyss · 26 Jan 2006 at 18:35

Flibster said:
But it's still 10x more expensive than cat5 bi-wire *30p/m*

Not a huge amount cheaper. To do it properly as per TNT audio it takes 42m of cat5 to make a pair of 3m cables. At 30p a metre this works out to £2.10 a meter.

Yes you can just use single runs of cat5, but this should only really be considered on extreme budget setups.

happytechie · 27 Jan 2006 at 11:05

as a summary and because I don't really understand the capacitance vs cross sectional area argumants in some of those links how many cat5 cores do I need to plait together per channel for decent performance / better prformance than el cheapo gale speaker wire?. I'l going to be adding my rear speakers to my living room setup this weekend and I have two long bits of gale speaker wire or the option of choping some Cat 6 cable up.

The wife also has a clever tool for plaiting hair that should make the job a bit quicker

HT

Flibster · 27 Jan 2006 at 12:23

Abyss said:
Not a huge amount cheaper. To do it properly as per TNT audio it takes 42m of cat5 to make a pair of 3m cables. At 30p a metre this works out to £2.10 a meter.

Yes you can just use single runs of cat5, but this should only really be considered on extreme budget setups.

I used 3 runs per cable - 10p per meter per run...

Even so - 70p per meter is still bloody good value for the 6 strand TNT audio cable *although that was excessive for me...*

If you want to be flash you can sleeve it as well - but the stuff I used is behind the removable plastic skirting board.

One of the most usefull things I ever found that.

Simon/~Flibster