# Cat5 for speaker cables?



## I=V/R (May 25, 2011)

I used to have a 100' Ethernet cable, which became a 65' unterminated cable courtesy of my sisters puppy. After having what was left of this cable in storage for about 2 years, I decided to repurpose it! I stripped the shielding off of the bundle, unwound all of the pairs, pulled all wires to equal length, cut them, and rewound them. I started with the solid colors, then moved to the striped wires. I spun both bundles clockwise to equal length, combined them and twisted counterclockwise, folded in half and spun clockwise again. What I ended up with is about a 10'-11' pair of equal length. I must say that I am actually pleased with the look of the cables, but have not actually used them because I am moving in about 10 days and want to save them for the new setup. I am pretty proud of my work, because I can say that I "made" my own cables! Have any of you ever done anything like this? How was the outcome? What do you think the performance would be like?












I haven't ordered wire boots yet, but I feel that they will improve the look drastically!

Also, on a side note, why is it so difficult to post pictures from an iPhone? I had to email the picture to myself compressed to 200Kb but it ended up being 206.2 which was too big. Then I emailed it in the smallest option which was 33Kb and looked atrocious. Then it dawned on me to crop the one that was 206.2. Sorry if there are fragments from where I had to add, examine, delete, them add the photos!


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## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

As long as the total impedance, which includes inductance and capacitance, isn't too high and the insulation can handle the voltage then any wire can be used for speakers. 

However for simplicity I would recommend buying "normal" speaker wire because:
a) It is relatively inexpensive
b) flexible
and
c) designed for the voltages involved


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## OZZIERP (Feb 19, 2012)

I have always used this as a reference. http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm


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## mathu12 (Jul 15, 2012)

I=V/R, please post your impressions of your home made speaker wire once you test it. I have often wondered how Cat5 would be. I have tons of it left over after building my house. I would like to put it to use.


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## I=V/R (May 25, 2011)

The purpose I had in mind for this wire doesn't really depend on being able to move a lot of power. I am planning on using it as an interconnect for my B&O Penta's, but I still have to have the foam repaired as well. Since the Penta's have their own amp, I figured that they wouldn't need a lot of power being fed through the speaker inputs. Am I mistaken? I would think that the signal would not be degraded because of the quality of copper and the stripped copper appears to be about 16 AWG when bundled. However, until I can test this out, I am just speculating...



mathu12 said:


> I=V/R, please post your impressions of your home made speaker wire once you test it. I have often wondered how Cat5 would be. I have tons of it left over after building my house. I would like to put it to use.


One thing I can say for certain, is do it on a free day! In order to make a 10' pair, about 3 hours of time is necessary. Maybe less after a practice run lol! I try to do everything as efficiently as possible so I would think that I made good time. It is just a really tedious project, with all of the untwisting, separating, bundling, then retwisting. I used a drill for must of it, which made things go much faster!


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## wgmontgomery (Jun 9, 2011)

robbo266317 said:


> As long as the total impedance, which includes inductance and capacitance, isn't too high and the insulation can handle the voltage then any wire can be used for speakers.
> 
> However for simplicity I would recommend buying "normal" speaker wire because:
> a) It is relatively inexpensive
> ...


+1. I have heard of many people using Cat5 for speaker cable, so I'd be interested in your impressions, too. I'd also like to point-out that your wire bears a striking resemblance to a fairly expensive wire that will go un-named.


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## I=V/R (May 25, 2011)

wgmontgomery said:


> +1. I have heard of many people using Cat5 for speaker cable, so I'd be interested in your impressions, too. I'd also like to point-out that your wire bears a striking resemblance to a fairly expensive wire that will go un-named.


That was my ultimate mission lol!


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## wgmontgomery (Jun 9, 2011)

I=V/R said:


> That was my ultimate mission lol!


I have a friend who paid >$3000 to have his system wired with the brand in question. It was *not* a pro installation and looked like a bunch of multi-colored spider webs all over his room! :rofl: It DID sound pretty good though.


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