I've been using cat6 (bit thicker diameter wire than cat5) for my speaker wire. All solids to positive, all stripes to negative, so the signal was going through the tp's.
I decided to try some romex (in wall solid power cable).
The romex is way better! More bass, and clearer highs.
My setup is a 7ish watt 300b into fostex full rangers. about 20 feet of cable between amp and speakers.
I decided to try some romex (in wall solid power cable).
The romex is way better! More bass, and clearer highs.
My setup is a 7ish watt 300b into fostex full rangers. about 20 feet of cable between amp and speakers.
What gauge Romex are you using? 16??
Nice idea - it won't cost much for me to try this out! 😀 😀 😀
It's solid core wire so you might be on to something with this!!
Now to purchase in bulk - do some cryo treatment - repackage with a snazzy name - and presto!!! Audiophile speaker cables!!
Nice idea - it won't cost much for me to try this out! 😀 😀 😀
It's solid core wire so you might be on to something with this!!
Now to purchase in bulk - do some cryo treatment - repackage with a snazzy name - and presto!!! Audiophile speaker cables!!
Now to purchase in bulk - do some cryo treatment - repackage with a snazzy name - and presto!!! Audiophile speaker cables!!
Or- even better - just pretend you have done the cryo treatment....
liquid N is cumbersome to work with... hang on - just maybe -196 C is not enough.... liquid helium? anyone ? maybe argon?
🙄 😀
c2cthomas said:
It's 20amp power cable. (just because I had a bunch sitting in my garage) Not sure on the gage.
You should try it! why not. There are other posts around about the idea, and also about using cat5. After trying both, solid core power cable is a clear winner! I was really surprised at the difference.
I know it's not ideal, but so far it's the best free speaker wire I've tried.
Re: Re: Free speaker wire shootout - cat6 vs romex
Tall speakers + tall equipment racks can use up a lot of wire.
Theo404 said:
Tall speakers + tall equipment racks can use up a lot of wire.
Re: Re: Free speaker wire shootout - cat6 vs romex
No 🙂
I thought about clarifying that earlier, and guess I should have. The speakers are 20' apart. The amp is next to one speaker, and the other is across the room. I keep the same cable length on both.
It's not ideal, but that's the way it has to be in this room.
-edit, and yeah, the next poster is right. They are closer to 15' apart, and then add in the distance on each side to go down the table, down the floor past the joists, then across to the other side of the room, back up through the floor and a few more feet to the speaker input.
Theo404 said:
No 🙂
I thought about clarifying that earlier, and guess I should have. The speakers are 20' apart. The amp is next to one speaker, and the other is across the room. I keep the same cable length on both.
It's not ideal, but that's the way it has to be in this room.
-edit, and yeah, the next poster is right. They are closer to 15' apart, and then add in the distance on each side to go down the table, down the floor past the joists, then across to the other side of the room, back up through the floor and a few more feet to the speaker input.
Re: Re: Re: Free speaker wire shootout - cat6 vs romex
Fair enough, was being facetious really 😀
Nice job hiding your cabling, waf/swmbo enforcement?
Are they shielded btw?
wicked1 said:
Fair enough, was being facetious really 😀
Nice job hiding your cabling, waf/swmbo enforcement?
Are they shielded btw?
I cannibalized some thick flexible power cords from Home Depot. They have 3 wires, though, so for convenience I connected white and green-yellow together, at least one of wires has a half of resistance.
Well, CAT6 really isn't made for high currents. There's a reason why the official PoE specifications call for 48v and a design current draw of a few hundred milliamps.
Romex, of course, is designed for at least 15A depending on size.
Now try the CAT6 in a high frequency signal application, then try it with Romex. Don't be surprised if it does not work at all with Romex due to severe impedance mismatch.
Pick the right wire for the job.
Romex, of course, is designed for at least 15A depending on size.
Now try the CAT6 in a high frequency signal application, then try it with Romex. Don't be surprised if it does not work at all with Romex due to severe impedance mismatch.
Pick the right wire for the job.
Let's compare apples with apples ...
You are combining 4 strands of CAT6 per side. Let's say the gauge of the wire is 23 AWG, you have a combined gauge of 17 AWG.
If your romex is 12 AWG ... it's not a fair comparison. The next test woud be to combine 12 strands of CAT6 to get around 12.28 AWG.
Now listen again.
www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/wirecalculator.xls
You are combining 4 strands of CAT6 per side. Let's say the gauge of the wire is 23 AWG, you have a combined gauge of 17 AWG.
If your romex is 12 AWG ... it's not a fair comparison. The next test woud be to combine 12 strands of CAT6 to get around 12.28 AWG.
Now listen again.
www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/wirecalculator.xls
Attachments
It's actually 2 cat 6 cables, so 8 pair.
It was inexpensive cable, and I don't know what the insulation is. So to further clarify, w/ these brands of cable (inexpensive cat6 from newegg, and romex from Lowes) on my system, the romex wins 🙂
It was inexpensive cable, and I don't know what the insulation is. So to further clarify, w/ these brands of cable (inexpensive cat6 from newegg, and romex from Lowes) on my system, the romex wins 🙂
Even 7W tubeboxes needs good clean powerways, how much moore with low current high power SS-amps
Did some research on powerconductors some years ago after stumbling over an old Electrocompaniet power cable(24ft -6x1mm SC) I used to replace my old stranded powercable. Hint: there`s no stranded wire in my system today.
First; you can connect as many tiny cores you want, they will never give the same bottom solid powerful sound as real thick cores, that`s 9awg or more. Anyone who`s tryed out fat trafo-conductors will have an idea, that`s what mostly trigged me to start thinkin.
In my SS-system I`m running fat custom trafos w. 13awg primar & 9awg secondaries, twin 9awg powerways to outlets. Woofers performed well feeded by one 4x9awg pr post, lately I added one 7avg and on my 6ft "cable" it lifted dynamics from impressive to shocking or realistic. Own my horn-buddies with a 4-way bass-relex system😀
13awg schielded solid core powercables also improves dynamics & clearity a lot over stranded pc`s. How much this did on a high-price CD-combo maked my jaw drop back then, thè SC pc`s was intended for poweramps😕
Did some research on powerconductors some years ago after stumbling over an old Electrocompaniet power cable(24ft -6x1mm SC) I used to replace my old stranded powercable. Hint: there`s no stranded wire in my system today.
First; you can connect as many tiny cores you want, they will never give the same bottom solid powerful sound as real thick cores, that`s 9awg or more. Anyone who`s tryed out fat trafo-conductors will have an idea, that`s what mostly trigged me to start thinkin.
In my SS-system I`m running fat custom trafos w. 13awg primar & 9awg secondaries, twin 9awg powerways to outlets. Woofers performed well feeded by one 4x9awg pr post, lately I added one 7avg and on my 6ft "cable" it lifted dynamics from impressive to shocking or realistic. Own my horn-buddies with a 4-way bass-relex system😀
13awg schielded solid core powercables also improves dynamics & clearity a lot over stranded pc`s. How much this did on a high-price CD-combo maked my jaw drop back then, thè SC pc`s was intended for poweramps😕
At audio frequencies there will be no difference between cat3 and cat6 cable. Heck, at most computer communication frequencies there will be no differences. Only at the very highest data rates will the differences show up. Cat6 is manufactured with higher precision with regards to insulation and wire strand diameter & spacing and twist ratio.
Re: Re: Re: Free speaker wire shootout - cat6 vs romex
What a waste. What do you do with the cable that is too long? Coil it up?wicked1 said:
Re: Re: Re: Re: Free speaker wire shootout - cat6 vs romex
My current setup is the same, but multiamped, which makes it even worse. I don't coil the extra wire, just sorta try to stuff it as out of sight as possible. It's a waste, yes, but at least I know that interchannel level and frequency response aren't affected by the wire.
pacificblue said:
My current setup is the same, but multiamped, which makes it even worse. I don't coil the extra wire, just sorta try to stuff it as out of sight as possible. It's a waste, yes, but at least I know that interchannel level and frequency response aren't affected by the wire.
There was most definitely a difference in sound when I had the close speaker on a short cable. I noticed it enough to justify making a 2nd 20' free speaker cable.
also, after a long run of either network cable, or AC power line, a 20' piece clipped off the end is just scrap that would end up in the trash anyway.. So rather than a waste, it's recycling.
also, after a long run of either network cable, or AC power line, a 20' piece clipped off the end is just scrap that would end up in the trash anyway.. So rather than a waste, it's recycling.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Free speaker wire shootout - cat6 vs romex
I've done the same. But mainly to give me future flexibility so I have some longer lengths to work with. Unless the room is exactly symetrical, I seriously doubt that the cable symetry will matter.
SY said:
I've done the same. But mainly to give me future flexibility so I have some longer lengths to work with. Unless the room is exactly symetrical, I seriously doubt that the cable symetry will matter.
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