DIY Speaker Cable

NotALamer · 10-17-2005, 05:48 PM

I'm planning on making a Full Frequency Range Cable and I was thinking I might be able to make it more compact by removing the jackets on the individual cat5 cables. I don't see any reason this would affect the performance of the cable, and removing the jackets would make it much less bulky. Does this make any sense? I don't know a whole lot about speaker cables so let me know if I'm way off base here.

thehaens@cox.net · 10-17-2005, 06:10 PM

Check out this link , I got the same idea and made one years ago from this link and made one. I used 3 15 foot strands (after braiding it was about 12 feet long) and braided it. The cable isn't aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but if you have a few hours to kill try it out....

BTW - I didn't notice any sonic difference from the cable I am currently using (Monster Z3) so I ended up tossing the CAT-5.....

If you do a google search CAT-5 Speaker Cable you'll see a lot of instructions on this..

scott

steveinaz · 10-17-2005, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotALamer

I'm planning on making a Full Frequency Range Cable and I was thinking I might be able to make it more compact by removing the jackets on the individual cat5 cables. I don't see any reason this would affect the performance of the cable, and removing the jackets would make it much less bulky. Does this make any sense? I don't know a whole lot about speaker cables so let me know if I'm way off base here.

I wouldn't recommend that. The idea of leaving the strands insulated is to reduce "strand jumping." A type of Hyperlitz array so to speak.

mantis · 10-17-2005, 07:22 PM

I wouldn't waste my time trying to build something that has already been perfected at a good price.

If this kind of thinking goes into your speaker wire, look no further then Kimber Kable 4pr or 8pr. Excellent quality wire at a great price. You can buy it in bulk or buy it terminated. Forget the cat5 speaker wire. It's been done in 1979.

Dan

steveinaz · 10-17-2005, 10:39 PM

Dan's right, unless you just want to DIY for the enjoyment/satisfaction factor.

NotALamer · 10-18-2005, 05:05 AM

I'm building it because I like to DIY and it's a pretty simple project, not because I think I can drastically improve the cat5 speaker cable design or anything like that.

When I said remove the jackets I didn't mean the insulation around the individual wires. There are three lengths of cat5 per speaker cable and each one has four twisted pairs with a jacket around it. If I remove the three jackets the individual wires will still be insulated, so it is still a Litz wire.

gidrah · 10-18-2005, 05:46 AM

I built a couple of pairs of these and was pretty impressed. Not the best I've heard, but it was pretty inexpensive and kinda fun.

10-17-2005, 05:48 PM	#1
NotALamer Polkie Member Sales Rating: (0) Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 4	DIY Speaker Cable I'm planning on making a Full Frequency Range Cable and I was thinking I might be able to make it more compact by removing the jackets on the individual cat5 cables. I don't see any reason this would affect the performance of the cable, and removing the jackets would make it much less bulky. Does this make any sense? I don't know a whole lot about speaker cables so let me know if I'm way off base here.

10-17-2005, 07:22 PM	#4
mantis Polk Guru Member Sales Rating: (10) Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Pa Posts: 9,552	I wouldn't waste my time trying to build something that has already been perfected at a good price. If this kind of thinking goes into your speaker wire, look no further then Kimber Kable 4pr or 8pr. Excellent quality wire at a great price. You can buy it in bulk or buy it terminated. Forget the cat5 speaker wire. It's been done in 1979. Dan __________________ Dan My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.

10-18-2005, 05:46 AM	#7
gidrah Polkologist Member Sales Rating: (1) Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: 'burb of Detroit Posts: 3,000	I built a couple of pairs of these and was pretty impressed. Not the best I've heard, but it was pretty inexpensive and kinda fun. __________________ Make it Funky!

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10-17-2005, 06:10 PM	#2
thehaens@cox.net Polkhead Member Sales Rating: (1) Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Southern Cali Posts: 1,012	Check out this link , I got the same idea and made one years ago from this link and made one. I used 3 15 foot strands (after braiding it was about 12 feet long) and braided it. The cable isn't aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but if you have a few hours to kill try it out.... BTW - I didn't notice any sonic difference from the cable I am currently using (Monster Z3) so I ended up tossing the CAT-5..... If you do a google search CAT-5 Speaker Cable you'll see a lot of instructions on this.. scott

10-17-2005, 10:39 PM	#5
steveinaz Polk Guru Member Sales Rating: (6) Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Javelina Highway Posts: 9,685	Dan's right, unless you just want to DIY for the enjoyment/satisfaction factor.

10-18-2005, 05:05 AM	#6
NotALamer Polkie Member Sales Rating: (0) Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 4	I'm building it because I like to DIY and it's a pretty simple project, not because I think I can drastically improve the cat5 speaker cable design or anything like that. When I said remove the jackets I didn't mean the insulation around the individual wires. There are three lengths of cat5 per speaker cable and each one has four twisted pairs with a jacket around it. If I remove the three jackets the individual wires will still be insulated, so it is still a Litz wire.

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