Good afternoon everyone!
I'm way too happy for a Thursday afternoon, but I have a good excuse. As I sat in my office today, listening to music while I work (as I often do.. and I'm sure you do too), I realized how I wasnt quite happy with the sound in my office.
Since I have good speakers, an amazing amp, and loads of high quality tunes (most of my collection is lossless, the rest is CD), I thought "this music should sound better".
Keep in mind that old phrase, GIGO.. "Garbage in, Garbage out". While not exactly garbage, my interconnects and speaker wire certainly left lots to be desired.
I ended up making new speaker wires, using 6 strands of Cat5 that I salvaged from another building.
Materials:
6 lengths of Cat5 cable, any length you want
2 sets Banana plugs
Some electrical tape (or zip ties)
Heat shrink tubing
wire cutters
wire strippers
heat source (heat gun, lighter, etc)
PATIENCE
Here we go.....
1. Make sure all 6 pieces of Cat5 are the same length
2. Using the electrical tape, connect 3 pieces together at one end, leaving about 6-8" of wire at the end before the tape.
3. Braid the 3 together. Once you reach the other end, tape them together 6-8" from the end of the wires.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the last 3 pieces of Cat5.
4. Remove the sleeve from the Cat5, exposing all of the twisted pairs of wire. Untwist them all, and group all of the solid colors together in one group, and all of the striped colors together in another group.
5. Strip approx. 2" of shielding from ALL of the wires. Once they are all stripped, twist them together tightly. (Colors together, stripes together)
6. Using the heat shrink tubing, separate the two groups of wires (colors and stripes) and insulate them to prevent shorting against each other.
7. Attach the banana plugs to the wires, and tighten the connectors until they are solid. (I also put heat shrink over the banana plugs to ensure they don’t come loose)
8. Plug in and enjoy!!!!!
The difference in sound from my system is STARTLING. I am absolutely floored that such a simple thing as speaker wire could make such a huge difference. Imaging is better, clarity is better, there’s cleaner highs, and waaaay more bass.
I’m working on some custom interconnects next, I hope to have them done tomorrow sometime, and hopefully have the tut posted on here early next week.
**NOTE: Make sure you check your work carefully throughout this, as you can potentially destroy your amp if you manage to short the wires. You can use a continuity tester if you are unsure!!! Also, you may find yourself wanting to play music louder than normal with these wires.. DON’T GET FIRED from your job.. it’s not my fault if you do! **
Now I should point out that I work in a remote corner of the building, away from most of the other staff.. the offices around me are all part timers, and I'm right behind the main boardroom and storage rooms. Sufficiently isolated to play music throughout the day at slightly higher than typical office volumes. Today though, I’ve had a few people stop in to see what’s up.. and they were all amazed with the difference in sound.