cat6 speaker wire

[I will decide!]

So i decided to make my own speaker cable.....8 hours later i finally finished one speaker cable

[I will decide!]

so i did have help from my woman - and of course the cat had to attack the wires

[Guest Guest]

That's pretty impressive, fisher! It's cool to give DIY a go. I made some CAT5 speaker cable for my bedroom system using the Litz Braid. It took a long time to make two 1m lengths!

Sounds pretty good.

[I will decide!]

half way thru plating i notice the orange pair is twisted at a tighter ratio than all the rest. So on the computer i go - and yes it is, to minimise cross talk into the other cables......

 

So buggar, different length cable inside cat6 - but i carried on as i was NOT undoing all that plating.........

 

A little advice - pull out the orange pair if you really really want the same lengths.

[little blue penguin]

All the pairs are twisted at different rates.

[Ernie1553552694]

Was it worth it Mr Fish?

[I will decide!]

 

cloth_ears;139755 wrote:

All the pairs are twisted at different rates.

 

just taken a look at the wires - so they are, too many Stella last night - thou the orange pair is far more severe twisted to the drunk eye:D

[I will decide!]

 

Ernie;139758 wrote:

Was it worth it Mr Fish?

 

Well - haven't had a listen at the moment - just had bacon and eggs for breaky - and looking at braiding the other speaker cable together....

 

At a guess - what would one expect ??

[Ernie1553552694]

You tell me. I ain't second-guessing your handiwork.

[little blue penguin]

Your impressions will very much depend on what you have been using for cable up to now.

 

I went from using large gauge multi-strand OFC to a Cat5e braided 40-pair cable, and I found the highs were more detailed but less harsh, and that the bass had a lot more detail.

 

But they can take a while to burn in.

 

However, and you're going to hate this part, even better results can be achieved by leaving the Cat6 cable intact.

 

I make a speaker cable from 9 Cat6 cables (Cooksferry called it a Boa Constrictor) which severely outperforms the braided versions.

 

Also, please use a meter and check that you don't have a short circuit between the ends when you have finished.

 

It only takes 1 wire to be in the wrong place to really spoil your day.

 

Great work by the way. I know from personal experience how difficult what you are doing is.

[Guest Guest]

 

cloth_ears;139772 wrote:

Also, please use a meter and check that you don't have a short circuit between the ends when you have finished.

 

Excellent point. That's a must!

[I will decide!]

my trusty fluke meter is beside me all the time (electrician by trade)

 

Clothears - Do you leave the plastic backbone in for your method ?

 

Just have to make another set now and compare them ! You can never have too many cable now can we ?

 

If this cat6 cable i am using has been used for computer for about 5 years - will it of been "burnt in" ?

 

Feels like im getting arthritis in my hands from all the braiding :eek:

[little blue penguin]

 

fisher X 100 A;139779 wrote:

my trusty fluke meter is beside me all the time (electrician by trade)

 

I wouldn't use any other brand of meter:)

 

 

fisher X 100 A;139779 wrote:

Clothears - Do you leave the plastic backbone in for your method ?

 

Yes, and I feel that the distance between the pairs is why this version of the cable works better than the braiding of the pairs.

 

 

fisher X 100 A;139779 wrote:

Just have to make another set now and compare them ! You can never have too many cable now can we ?

 

Damn straight.

 

 

fisher X 100 A;139779 wrote:

If this cat6 cable i am using has been used for computer for about 5 years - will it of been "burnt in" ?

 

You might find that it will take longer to burn in, although who really knows?

 

 

fisher X 100 A;139779 wrote:

Feels like im getting arthritis in my hands from all the braiding :eek:

 

Yeah, I find that I have to be carefull stripping the insulation of the cores. I got a bad RSI from it when I was applying too much pressure on the sidecutters. It's not a problem now, but it was a real wake up call, and I strongly advise anyone doing repetitive tasks to be careful how you perform them.

[I will decide!]

blind hearing test with the woman - and a bit of pink floyd playing - and guess what ??

 

she picked the speaker that is wired in cat6 ........good girl

[Electra]

 

cloth_ears;139772 wrote:

 

 

 

Also, please use a meter and check that you don't have a short circuit between the ends when you have finished.

 

 

 

It only takes 1 wire to be in the wrong place to really spoil your day.

 

 

I know someone who did this and plugged it into his Perreaux 3000B amp.. Result was it acted somewhat like a fuse, and once the amp got through the melting of that bit of copper, things sounded no different to his old cables, which were a pair of 4 cpre 1.5mm shielded flex per speaker.

 

Those older Perreaux PA amplifiers were maybe more suited to welding than hifi use.

[I will decide!]

question - if one of the conditions to a perfect speaker cable is the same length - wouldn't the different lengths of cable inside the cat6 blue sheathing not support this theory ??

[little blue penguin]

 

fisher X 100 A;139812 wrote:

question - if one of the conditions to a perfect speaker cable is the same length - wouldn't the different lengths of cable inside the cat6 blue sheathing not support this theory ??

 

It wouldn't, which makes it just that; a theory.

 

BTW do the math. Signal propagates thru Cat6 cable at 70% of the SOL. What is the lag between pairs over 3m.

 

Answer; FA.

[I will decide!]

woop woop- have just finished braiding cable two together - now another 2 hours separating and stripping

[Omegaspeedy]

Nice job fisher! Your cat looks just like my one that ran away last year. I don't think he would have made it from Pukekohe to the Naki though:) Looking forward to hearing your impressions once they have burnt in.

[Papa Hemi]

Right on - and jealous!

Not a SWMBO in sight, rather a SWIGI (she whom I give instructions).

And a shitload of piss - I bet you told her to buy it - and she did (and not any old crap either, not homebrew but!). Couldn't quite make out what was in the bottle on the deck tho'...

Back OT

Is that a three-plait? Any thoughts on what a four-plait or other even numbered plait would be like?

I made a pair of 1m three plaits a couple of years back, thought that they sounded quite good, but I am now happy with single runs of cat5, the whiteys to one side and the coloureds to another - I call them Apartheid - cheap and effective - and I don't care what the rest of the world says!

[I will decide!]

your right papa hemi - on all accounts ! haha..........the one and only Stella Artois (a.k.a wife beater)

 

Yes - three plait, step 1 ...so take 3, two pairs and plait them together - put aside and repeat until you have 3 "rope's" then you guessed it - plait them together put aside. So repeat from step 1 till you have 3 big ropes and then finally plait those together.........

 

I do not think my other speaker cable will get done tonight - SWIGI is bringing me Stella and telling me to drink

[little blue penguin]

 

fisher X 100 A;139836 wrote:

I do not think my other speaker cable will get done tonight - SWIGI is bringing me Stella and telling me to drink

 

It's a hard road finding the perfect woman. So does yours have a sister?

[I will decide!]

Hard enough finding this one - i had to move from the east coast NI to west coast NI for a job - then met her........our song is "west end girls" by Duran Duran i think "west end girls meet eastern boys"

 

Ok - i give up -----how the hell do you get the "quotes" into your post......stella taking affect i think

[little blue penguin]

 

fisher X 100 A;139839 wrote:

Hard enough finding this one - i had to move from the east coast NI to west coast NI for a job - then met her........our song is "west end girls" by Duran Duran i think "west end girls meet eastern boys"

 

 

 

Ok - i give up -----how the hell do you get the "quotes" into your post......stella taking affect i think

 

There's a button confusingly labelled "quotes". Pick a post with a quote that you want to include in your post and click on the "quote" button.

 

You can delete parts of the quote but if you delete the pieces in [] at the beginning and end it will not appear correctly in your post.

 

Stella Artois, mmmm...

 

I like the beer, the group that has the same first name, and it is remarkably close to my TradeMe handle "stellar15".

[Papa Hemi]

Back in the day, after I got my homebrew recipe down pat, I taught SWMBO (then known as SWIGI) the process, and she did the brewing while I was out at work. I'd come home, she would have a cold one poured for me, and would hover around to check all was ok....

Aaah - those were the days.

 

Now - well now - I get told off for using the oven to roast the grain, get told off for leaving the empties lying around, and there is no way she is going to waste her valuable time plaiting strands of wire so they can make a big fat snake to get in the way of the vacuum.

 

Enjoy it while it lasts e hoa.