Add punch to diy speakers with CAT5

[kaushik]

I have a cheap BS speaker set, i tweaked with some XO etc..
Then I thought letz try some thing with the cat5 cable (correction:I used CAT 6,but CAT5 should do as well) with me.
I have taken 4 individual wires 2 for + and 2 for -.Twisted each pair ... paralleled with existing wire from binding post to the woofer.

Liked the result ,enhanced punch in LF in 40 -60Hz.. try it guys...

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

:sad:

It's just very... thin... conductors. Oh, and they are twisted in such a way as to minimise intereference with ethernet signals.

If I wanted to be adventurous, I'd go for mains cable. A good couple of sq mm of conductor.

Or coathangers...

Yes... I'm sceptical!

 

[kaushik]

previous wires were there already thick multistrand,added cat5 as an extra

 

[gobble]

previous wires were there already thick multistrand,added cat5 as an extra

Running out to get some now ...

Cheers

 

[rallynut]

@kaushik,am sure theres some magic in them.read the chris ven haus article on vh audio.have been doin a lotta readin on them and find that for the money spent,they can rival quite a few 'higher end' cables.an italian friend of mine made me a pair using cat5e.3 runs per channel,braided,twisted ends terminated as soldered bare wire,12 strands for +ve/12 strands for -ve(per channel).need to get them home to test.costed me nuthin :yahoo:.my friend bein a huge diy guy,swears by them.he was recantin the instance of one of his friends who was using a 1000 euro cable for his stereo and when this guy sampled the diy cat5,he quickly proceeded to sell the expensive one.cheers

@gobble,try them.u should be pleasantly surprised IMO.cheers

 

[keith_correa]

@kaushik,am sure theres some magic in them.read the chris ven haus article on vh audio.have been doin a lotta readin on them and find that for the money spent,they can rival quite a few 'higher end' cables.an italian friend of mine made me a pair using cat5e.3 runs per channel,braided,twisted ends terminated as soldered bare wire,12 strands for +ve/12 strands for -ve(per channel).need to get them home to test.costed me nuthin :yahoo:.my friend bein a huge diy guy,swears by them.he was recantin the instance of one of his friends who was using a 1000 euro cable for his stereo and when this guy sampled the diy cat5,he quickly proceeded to sell the expensive one.cheers

@gobble,try them.u should be pleasantly surprised IMO.cheers

Can you please let me/us know what brand of CAT5e cable was used?

 

[studiomaster]

Any snaps will be appreciated... will give touch and feel....
thanks,

 

[kaushik]

i used Belden cable OFC Cat5 just simply for checking ,4 wires total, each pair for+ and one for - (no need tell how to twist them) and used inside.. if one follows some recommended braiding for whole speaker sure he will get some good results

@rallynut
I have seen lot of diy CAT6 (corrected)cables online, was too lazy to do the weaving.. i will go and read that VH audio article
@studiomaster
soon i will open the speakers,and take pics .. i just casually tested ... but recommended twisting pattern is shown in this link Speaker Cable Faceoff 3 - The DIY Shootout — Reviews and News from Audioholics

Correction : It is CAT6 7815A evn though CAT5 also should do well.

 

[rallynut]

Can you please let me/us know what brand of CAT5e cable was used?

@keith,i think its not brand specific really.i have some australian make(24 awg,upto 350 mhz)and i think inevitably being bulk spools of cable for ethernet use a decent quality should be ok.my setup seems very tailored to vfm,hence the logic in wanting to use them.cheers

@all,will post pics when ive set them up.cheers

 

[gobble]

Will Cat6E be better than Cat5E? Category 6 cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regards

 

[mohamednaseer]

Hello kaushik,

Is this Belden #1585A cable.Where it is available and what is the cost per metre.Is this available in Chennai?.

Regards,

Naseer

 

[kaushik]

Hi all ,
It is Belden CAT6 7815A,sorry for the mistake ..i bought long back ..it was ripped apart so ...was difficult to read the cable number.yesterday night i some how checked..
Price was even like the potatos..some 30Rs per meter ..

@gobble .. we are waiting for the test results.
Lott of DIY info on cable making here :
http://web.archive.org/web/20050225022047/www.geocities.com/jonrisch/index2.htm

 

[rallynut]

folks,have recently started using my diy cat5e spkr cables.first impressions,the sound is so much more 'in ur face'.bass seems to have become a lot tighter,mids very open(??!),lots more detail.in all the presentation seems to be that little wee bit forward.problem is that my setup has always bordered on neutral/clinical and the cables seem to have enhanced that,not necessarily a good thing!!of course,need to judge after atleast 100hrs to compare.maybe by then my ears would hv gotten used to them !!!would love to see what theyd sound like in a very laid back setup.try them.cheers

 

[keith_correa]

folks,have recently started using my diy cat5e spkr cables.first impressions,the sound is so much more 'in ur face'.bass seems to have become a lot tighter,mids very open(??!),lots more detail.in all the presentation seems to be that little wee bit forward.problem is that my setup has always bordered on neutral/clinical and the cables seem to have enhanced that,not necessarily a good thing!!of course,need to judge after atleast 100hrs to compare.maybe by then my ears would hv gotten used to them !!!would love to see what theyd sound like in a very laid back setup.try them.cheers

Gotta pic of the cables?

 

[swami69]

I presume Rallynut used this technique to get the Cat DIY speaker cable done (as per one of his previous posts). Good read and very interesting. While it looks time consuming and requires lots of patience, the outcome seems to be wonderful. Just thought of adding the link if anybody wants to refer. Thanks for this freinds. I will probably do it one day soon.

DIY Cat5 Speaker Cables

swami

 

[keith_correa]

I presume Rallynut used this technique to get the Cat DIY speaker cable done (as per one of his previous posts). Good read and very interesting. While it looks time consuming and requires lots of patience, the outcome seems to be wonderful. Just thought of adding the link if anybody wants to refer. Thanks for this freinds. I will probably do it one day soon.

DIY Cat5 Speaker Cables

swami

The braiding technique would be the same but construction differs - Chris VH separates each twisted pair to get 54 individual twisted pairs and then braids 3 twisted pairs together to get 18 braided lengths.
He takes 3 individual braided lengths and braids them together to get 6 braided lengths.
He again takes the 6 individual braided lengths and braids 3 braided lengths together to get 2 braided lengths. So each of the final 2 braided lengths would now have 27 individual conductors.

If that sounded easy - maybe we can try to make it sound better by braiding like these: 1, 2 and 3

Sounds like a LOT of work and if it does not make a difference in sound maybe we can self flaggelate ourselves with those braided lengths. Ouch! I bet that will sound good.

 

[rallynut]

Gotta pic of the cables?

keith,yet to upload a snap of both the cables and my dac.no camera !!after reading the van heus article,admit was intrigued.my italian sound recording engr friend swears by them,so got 2 cables of <3 mtr run made.3 cables per ch(with jackets on),braided,terminated as straight wire,solids for +ve and stripes for -ve.4 pairs of conductors per cable,so 12 pairs of solids/stripes for a channel.works out to around 12 awg.one supposedly starts having to deal with capacitance and such for runs longer than 8ft,so caution.cheers

 

[keith_correa]

keith,yet to upload a snap of both the cables and my dac.no camera !!after reading the van heus article,admit was intrigued.my italian sound recording engr friend swears by them,so got 2 cables of <3 mtr run made.3 cables per ch(with jackets on),braided,terminated as straight wire,solids for +ve and stripes for -ve.4 pairs of conductors per cable,so 12 pairs of solids/stripes for a channel.works out to around 12 awg.one supposedly starts having to deal with capacitance and such for runs longer than 8ft,so caution.cheers

I think 24 conductors at 24 AWG per individual conductor would work out to an aggregate of 10.30 AWG - no?

 

[rallynut]

stand corrected .thanks keith.maths was never my forte,heh.cheers

 

[suri]

@keith,i think its not brand specific really.i have some australian make(24 awg,upto 350 mhz)and i think inevitably being bulk spools of cable for ethernet use a decent quality should be ok.my setup seems very tailored to vfm,hence the logic in wanting to use them.cheers

@all,will post pics when ive set them up.cheers

hi rallynut,

i plan to make a trip to your place this sunday to experience your ICE, home system and hospitality (a nice tea would be ok).

is that ok by you?

regds