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Thread: A good use for old Cat5!

  1. #41
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    Ok, so after confirming the speaker wire and connections of that Klipsch set you linked, I can honestly say YES, cat5 speaker wire will make a difference for you.

    http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum...highlight=cat5 - This thread talks about braiding/twisting cat5/6 for building speaker wire.

    http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...632&highlight= - Can you actually hear a difference between speaker wires? This thread discusses it.. at length.

    I would say you should do this: start by breaking in the speakers before doing any testing. This will ensure even results.. as speakers break in, they begin to sound better.

    Once broken in (15-20 hours of playback at medium levels), pick a reference song/album and listen to it a few times with the stock wires. Next, switch to a single twisted pair for the speakers. Listen to the same material a few times, and then switch to a strand of cat5/6 for each channel, and repeat. Lastly, braid up a set of cables, and try that.

    You should hear a difference at every change; experience says that the left/right speakers will get a bass boost from the single twisted pair, but better clarity from a strand, and best imaging from the braided set.

    You certainly dont need to go as extreme as I did, or as far as THIS GUY to get noticeable results, so just try it all, and see what works best for you.

    There really is no magic formula for getting the best sound from your system, it's all about trial and error until you nail it.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  2. #42

    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    Cool :] Thanks for the insane response time. Few questions again haha.

    1) What exactly is the difference between a CAT5 and CAT6 cable, and do they both work as internet cables? Kind of off topic, but was just wondering since I always get them confused.

    1a) Which would be better to make cables out of and why, CAT5 or CAT6?

    2) What exactly is the difference between a single strand, pair of twisted strands, 6-wire braid, and his insane 54 wire braid?

    3) Think those Klipsch's are any good for the money? =P

  3. #43
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    1. Cat6 is stable to higher frequencies for data transmission. Basically it's better quality shielding. They are essentially interchangeable, but as I said, cat6 is capable of carrying higher speed signal.

    1a. There was some discussion of that in one of those links I sent... cat6 seems to be preferred, but I have none to actually test myself atm.

    2. I touched on the difference a bit in my last post, but to answer the 54wire braid.. You end up with a high capacitance cable, which can be destructive on some amplifiers. Personally, the big braids I did sounded amazing with my t-amp, so I would say unless you really like the look of the complex braids, and you have a high quality amp, dont bother.

    3. I think so, but my preference would be a T-Amp and a pair of decent bookshelf speakers, with no sub. A single full range driver would be ideal.. google "zigmahornets" to see what I run.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

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