cheap cat5e cable for speaker cable

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chrisb

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Joined 2002
larryfff said:
Why would you use that? Why not some 14 or 16 gauge stranded copper?
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If you have to ask, you might not understand - there are more than a few us, having recovered from the vertigo/nausea & sticker shock of the interconnect / speaker wire merry-go-round, for whom the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of CAT5E cabling is a welcome relief. This can particularly be the case with higher efficiency full-range speaker systems.

Hell, there are more than a few folks using magnet wire that makes a single strand of #24 CAT5 wire look like cab-tire.

About 10yrs ago, when I was taking my first tentative steps outside the brain-washed "comfort-zone" of mainstream audio manufactures ( in my case Linn) telling me what products I needed to periodically upgrade to support their corporate profit structure, one of the first changes I made was to trash my K-400 speaker cable (bi-wire for Keilidh) for a Chris Van Haus DIY braided CAT5 configuration. As the saying goes, "I never looked back". My current speakers are all single driver systems (Fostex / Hemp Acoustics/ Mark Audio), and use anything from a single to four strands of CAT5 per pole.
 
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Bob Brines

Member
Joined 2003
I followed the link. They make no claim to applications, so I doubt if it is plenem or riser grade. That would almost guarantee that the wire insulation is PVC as is the jacket. However, blue jackets normally indicate a high temperature cable, so I'd make a call before I bought a box.

That said, we all know that PVC is bad and teflon or FEP is good, but why? Exactly what is the mechanism and is it really important at audio frequencies?

Bob
 
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chrisb

Member
Joined 2002
bigdh31 said:
I have used and like cat5 for speaker cable. I found another cheap speaker wire I like a little better. It is the golden helix stuff Mapleshade sells. It is $80 for a 8 foot pair.
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No doubt the Mapleshade is a fine product, and $5 per lineal foot is certainly not stupidly expensive, but I'd not exactly consider it "cheap" , either.
 
Andersonix

Andersonix

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Joined 2004
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Someone gave me almost 700ft of white CAT3 (same 4 twisted pairs of 24AWG as CAT5). It's plenum rated, but has the PVC(?) insulation covered by a very thin layer of Teflon. My plan is to braid 4 runs of this to get 12AWG speaker cables. (So keep a lookout on craigslist, etc. to stretch that DIY dollar.)

Some of the surplus CAT5 I've seen has a weak ("powdery") outer housing that doesn't seem very durable, but others have appeared better.
 
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