How to build CAT5 Braided Speaker Cables
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- This video show how I braided the CAT5 ethernet cable to make a speaker cables. Cut into 2 meters length. A lot claims that this performs the same as high end speaker cables.
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For this to work you need copper wire utp cable. You want FPE insulation and not pvc. Belden 1585A is a good start. Avoid lenghts of over 2 m per cable . Use longer interconects if you have to. The brading is important as it reduces magnetic intereference and and noise. It also adds strenght to the cable and makes it more compact. On a good system this cable will beat any other sub 40 usd per meter cable. Cost to make with belden 1585a should be arround 10 usd per meter of braided cable.
Ideally 14 lenghts of cable should be used to produce thr left and right speaker cables.
Three things. One, generally cheap speaker wire is much cheaper than Cat5. Two, Cat5 actually has a "rip cord" (small piece of threaded string" included in the jack so you don't have to strain the very thin conductors by pulling at both ends through the jacket, you just pull the string back like a blade. Three, the conductors are very thin and solid and the individual shields are not designed for high amperage or voltage (respectively.) Thus making them resistive and potentially dangerous with any sort decent audio power. The solid wire also tends to break undo the kind of environments audio systems are used. I don't blame you for trying to be clever and save people a buck, it was a neat thought.
Yeah, but Cat 5 is so much cheaper when you have an extra 1000 ft of it laying around form networking.
I don't think this is to save a buck but more to make a better sounding wire. Having the wire braided will reduce inductance to a minimum thus improving the high frequency sound.
Dude you have the patience of a saint!!no doubt!!!
i built a set of these cables only i used cat6 instead of cat5 and wow do they sound fantastic ever little change in pitch in instruments and voice comes thru extremely clear everything sounds realistic. it took hours and hours of braiding but damn it was worth it. i read some of the nasayers comments below, they have absolutely no clue what they are talking about, they need to look-up the words inductance and skin-effect. its unbelievable just how good they sound,its hard to put into words, got to hear to really understand just how good they sound.
If skin effect was an issue at these frequencies (it's not) then cat 5 cable would actually perform WORSE than 14 gauge speaker wire. Skin effect on a 24Guage wire 100M long at 100KHz adds about 10% resistance versus 1Hz, or about 2 ohms. 14 guage would be far less, and barely measurable even in the laboratory setting. The difference would be 100% inaudible.
OH, and you also mentioned inductance. Did you forget that capacitance and inductance are both present, giving the cable an impedance, which actually does not change, no matter how long or short the cable is?
looks nice. lot's of work!
thank you very much: i will keep this info tied onto my diy anti RF cable' attempt , for future application. Hoping to manage , I salute You with
Best Regards
multi layering with the cat5 cabel {mono cristaline copper} braided against each other makes a super result!!! this is what the big manufacture's do!!!!
Removing the outer PVC jacket is nice to give the cable a little more flexibility but the fancy braiding is totally aesthetic. Just twist it together and it'll be fine. Never seen anyone use a soldering iron on heat shrink.... I thought a bic lighter was the standard tool for that...lol.
The braiding is not aesthetic. The braiding acts like a fliter and reduces RF and EMI that is already on the mains. Think how and Inductor works. You can prove this by taking a single wire and hooking it up to a radio antenna input this wire will be a great antenna. Keep adding braids to the wire and you reception should decrease as wave lengths are canceled via phase cancellation.
Apparently the sheathing around each conductor contains Teflon, which helps eliminate high frequency crosstalk, also even if you used all 8 conductors together it's the same cross sectional area of 16ga cable. So I would use 2 cat5 per + and -
Built them, sound great on my mains.
CAT5 cable is typically used for Ethernet networks running at 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps. Cable twisting length is not standardized, but typically there are 1.5-2 twists per cm in Cat-5(e) and 2+ twists per cm in Cat-6. So basically CAT5 on its own has sufficient number of twists for noise cancellation.
This guy knows it works from experience, if you put them on your shitty stereo it won't help, many people have tried and proven how good and worthwhile his efforts are so don't knock it until you try.
Hey, I need a Cat5 8 conductor non-flipped cable for my amplifier's remote bass control knob which I can't seem to find. I have one but the little clips on mine are broken that hold it into place....any suggestions?
i made this type of cable out of belden cat 5 and its sounds awesome on my studio monitor speaker thanks
doesent make a difference...braided yes but dont need cat5
@@paulkamalski6298 except the insulation does matter which is why he chose one knowing what insulation it uses.
Cheers mate!
This is a variation of LITZ wire. However, Cat5 is typically 24ga which has a cross sectional area of 0.205mm². Multiply that by SEVEN and we have a combined cross sectional area of 1.435mm². That is the equivalent of 16 gauge wire (just a bit bigger, but not quite 15ga). That is fine for most moderate power stereo systems with common speakers. FOUR pair Cat5 is about US$90 for 500 feet, making the per foot cost. $0.18. Hi-Fi speaker wire of the same equivalent 16 ga is also $90 per 500 feet. So, I'm not sure exactly what is gained from this.
Find the gauge of the wire, multiply the number of strands by the cross sectional arear of a single strand to find the total. Then determine what gauge wire that is the equivalent of. For example, most Cat5 is FOUR pair, with the wires split, 4 for positive and 4 for negative, the equivalent cross sectional area is 0.85mm². That is the equivalent of 18 gauge wire. Again, that would be fine for short distances and moderate powered amps.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge
It’s not the gauge it’s the braiding
@@thewizard7099 - - No, for a Power Application like Speaker wire it is the gauge. For High Impedance Signal wire, the braiding can make a difference, and Gauge is less important. Today, most recommend 14ga for common speaker wire. Though that is a trace of overkill, but not by much.
@@blueboyblue my buddy has his stereo wired with cat6 and it sounds killer. Huge speakers too. Casino was tossing them and he got 4 of them. Not sure the wattage ohms or whatever else, but his system can be heard way down the street
Easier to braid stranded Ethernet cables, than installation cable, as you get in Patch cables. They are also better, as they have more surface, and suffer less with skin effect. Also they are much more flexible for an easier cable management. Just a tip from a fellow audiophile ;-)
+Kim Lund Sørensen Yes they are flexible & keep their shape better but be very careful not to bend or fold them much because the gauge wire in side is very fragile & will break easy..
I have been fixing our dame phone line that runs 500 feet to the service box like at first once a month, then once a week and then every second day lol ... Phone company wouldn't cover burying a new line from the service box to the house for almost 3 years now,
So I made a deal with them and actually just got the new line buried today !!! I just had to run a cable pick on the back of the tractor to bury it!!
I had to be very careful not to get any kinks because I really didn't want any of the 6 20 gauge CAT5e wires to break!! Expensive cable also, especially at 500 feet + !!
I am making a 12 channel Snake cable with some of the left over wire with USB & Fire wire ends for my gear!!
That cable is amazing for Data & sound transfer !!! But I would use regular patches for Mics & Guitars and so on!!
Use these Patches for more sensitive recording or Data Cables!!
Thanks!!
+violeman Hm, I find that hard to believe. They sell 1000ft of cat5e for like $40. How is 6 lines that are 500 ft expensive? That's only 3 boxes of cat5. $120 if that
So this cable is solid core wire or stranded...? Looks solid to me and from what I've got to its solid aswell.
Looks cool! Actually, with this braiding have you created some kind of DIY-shielding on the conductors? I mean, is it equivalent with if someone has a heavy-duty shielding (braiding+foil) on the cable? If yes, I dont mind the time consumption, I follow your idea. Thanks!
Thanks mate! I didn't cause I end up not using this cable as to bulky if you really follow the sizing of the cable.
Nice made
Please: may I ask You whether You know how to diy a filter cable ? to protect against rfi 's mixing issues , using a mic,with mixer's preamps ?
best regards
If you put fair price tag on your time ($15/hr) by time you braid enough of this wire to hookup a home theatre system in your living room, you could have bought a huge spool of 16awg cable!
Sometimes it is fun doing something the hard way. I am french polishing my piano cabinet, it takes a million hours, and I am no good at it, using a spray gun would be fun too, but sometimes it is nice to do something a different or old fashioned way. If I am succesfull it will be a more pleasant and beautiful finish than anything else.
I think as long as you have the right size of cable and you follow the rule of thumb the resistance is kept to be less than 5% of the speaker impedance.
It s not the resistance that is important, it s the inductance of the cable
Thanks.
cheers.
Several years ago I got the idea to use cat5e wire to do this and spent an absurd amount of time braiding a pair of 15' wires together (my hands were killing me long before I even passed the 1/2way point of the first one!) and in the end the resulting finished pair of cables looked rather cool. But upon attaching them between the speakers and the 6 channel speaker switch control unit, (I used regular 12g speaker wire from the amplifier output to the switch units input.) something must've been wrong somewhere in the braiding, because when I would increase the volume at the stereo, the internal fan in the amplifier would turn on causing the sound to fade and the receiver shut down.
I checked continuity for each of the braided 'cables', and that was correct, but the resistance (impedance?) must've been really high. ?? I don't recall ever figuring out the true problem, since I opted to just use regular 14g speaker wire (since I was intending to drive 6 pairs of speakers in several regions throughout the basement of my home, braiding miles of this silly cat5e wire was NOT a savings of anything after all.) and being that running 6 pairs of various length wiring involved already too much time and effort than I imagined before actually starting!
I never did resume the braiding my own wire thing, so I can't state that high quality results are what anyone might accomplish, but I do rest assured that unless you have hands that are accustomed to this agonizing type of dexterity-intense work, it is simply a waste of time and energy, and nothing more! Best of luck to anyone wanting to recreate the wheel in their spare time however! :0)
z3dsdead More is not always better for analog, it requires more power to run thicker cables, the best is somewhere in the middle not too thin and not too thick (middle of the road is perfection)
It does NOT require more power to use thicker cables. Thicker cables are more efficient, as they have less resistance, therefore less signal loss. The only thing about thicker cables is that you may not NEED them for shorter runs or lower powered systems, meaning you might be wasting your money one them. They will NEVER sound worse, and will always outperform thinner cables.
OMG. Don't make comments if you don't know what you're talking about.
be interesting to see running a 4ohm speaker. kaboom maybe
woderful
best regards
The biggest factor in building speaker cable is the quality of the copper conductors. Purity, OFHC, how it was annealed, how it was drawn? Unfortunately, CAT5 cable manufacturers give no useful info on their copper. They are, of course, only interested in network performance. I use Belden 1585A, assuming the big guy on the block would get dibs on the best copper.
Good for how many watts?
What's the difference between "high quality" speaker cables and the stuff you buy off monoprice? Is the copper in cat cables even that much better?
It's not the copper, Ethernet cables have better shielding around the wires and when braided the inductance is dropped as well making for better sound quality overall
I tried this before and performs as great as high quality speaker cables.
They are measurably less effective, not even factoring in the extra labor involved, but the difference won't be noticeable to very many people. I'm not sure I could hear the difference, either, but I can defintely measure the difference with an oscilloscope and some other test equipment.
You just don't get that time in life back; when it's' gone, well it's gone for good. Great little experiment and I appreciate that some things are best left to machines...
Is it possible to use a CAT7e for this projects?
All cats above 5 are the same quality except for data speed and bandwidth
Google Skin effect. Multistranded wire that is isolated from each other would transmitt signals better.
Hi, sorry I'm not that techky, no idea. Cheers :-D
Why not just use 2 CAT 5 cables to each speaker termination, and leave the pairs in the outer sheath? Cat 5 cables are already twisted sufficiently to provide good CMRR, and they are probably wound more precisely than is possible through primitive DIY methods. It's important for noise rejection that the braid is symmetrical, as the cable may act more as an antenna than if using normal audio speaker cable. It's important to note that Cat 5 cable normally has 2 pairs loosely twisted and 2 pairs tightly twisted. This means that the 2 pairs of tightly twisted cables are longer in length than the 2 loosely twisted pairs. So my thinking is that it would be much easier to terminate 2 of the tightly twisted pairs from the first cable with the 2 pairs of the second cable to make one conductor. This would mean you have a 4 pair ( 8 wires ) conductor and 4 pairs unused. This way, you wouldn't need to strip off the entire sheathing, apart from the ends, and it's only a matter of soldering the 4 pairs from the 2 cables together at each end, which eliminates the need to braid the already braided cables. Note the Cat 5 specification: "The distance per twist is commonly referred to as pitch. Each of the four pairs in a Cat 5 cable has differing precise pitch to minimize crosstalk between the pairs. The pitch of the twisted pairs is not specified in the standard", so check the manufacturer specification if unsure
This is not the original work. Search the internet. You will find extensive study for making cat5 speaker cables.
I have used CAT5 wire and then use banana plugs for the right and left Channel without having to strip the wire because by doing it the way he's doing it I am a technician by the way audio technician and by you ripping off the shielding it's only causing it to receive interference if you see the expensive wires that have banana clips on them these particular wires are made from category 5e wire by doing this the way this young man's doing it he's taking away all the skin off the wire this creates a problem a real big problem that can be avoided just recommend the strip some of the cable with a razor blade also get some heat shrink wrap and black so the ones you finish with it you can put it heat shrinking wrap around the cables and use banana plugs you'll get an excellent sound usually these are the same wires they do all they do is take away the markings that says CAT5 and then they charge you over $100 for a set of cables believe me I've made these cables for years I see them on magazines all the time and I have been working in electronics for over 45 years I have used all kind of cables and the CAT5 wire is the best
@@greenharvestproductions6743 This talk of being an audio technician is a bit meaningless, as that means little. Electronic principles is all that matters here. Who said anything about ripping off the outer shielding? I stated clearly, leave the pairs in the outer sheath. Now, are you going to deal with what I said, or just bang on about how great you are at electronics?
@@greenharvestproductions6743 I don't care what you do or how great you think you are. These are not audio cables, they are data cables. Your problem is you have no reading comprehension, you didn't even understand what I wrote, because in your mind you are a jumped up "audio technician" with a million years experience of being a jumped up "audio technician"
Once you've spent some time working in the telecommunications sector and understood how to read, then maybe I'll give you a chance to spout some more garbage, until then , go sit on your dumb-ass throne. You truly are the King in that sector
Not only am I auto technician I'm also going to have operator and work for the telephone company okay useful they don't have any clue how old are you 20 years old you're thinking going to teach a man who is 63 years old who works in the telecommunication business about Electronics you need to go back to school and learn something before you start running your mouth I was saw what you did on the thing and if you think that that's the way you do it you got life all messed up by stripping the cable the way you did it was the wrong idea but I guess you won't take a suggestion because you're a sexual intellectual
Madness :)
why do people use soldering irons to shring heatshringtubes? i mean a lighter works 10 times as fast, and looks so much better...
Also it is much less fiddeling...
anyways, nice idea to reuse an old Ethernet Cable :)
I did it once because I couldn't find my heat gun, and didn't have a lighter handy.
muh1h1 It's called control/refinement! Why spend extra on a good transmission vs. a bad one? Sure, they can both shift gears if they are in working order...but there DEF is a difference
Why?
Homemade Kimber Kables lol!
more fun and costs nearly nothing at all =)))
i would have done the test first before braiding that lot
Why???
These will probably make your music sound rubbish but I think you may have discovered the next craze... Therapeutic, copper core friendship bands!
lol what is that.... 20 guage when youre all done?
pero para que ?
I see no purpose in braiding the wires. Just take a piece of cat5 and twist the ends together. Use one each for positive and negative.
Yeah, well, braiding it changes wire characteristics. That's why they twist it in the first place.
Braiding wires gives them helps shield them to HF interference, like from EMI and RFI and from sources like fluorescent light ballasts.
stereodreamer23 to add to your comment, braided wires will also reduce inductance between positive and negative, improving the sound in the top-end of a speaker.
@@chielwouterscw Question is, does it really matter for audio frequencies, especially when such values are negligible ( exception being for long cable runs ) as they are cumulative with the passive components of the crossover network of the loudspeaker. As far as the amplifier is concerned, the frequency response is determined by the overall impedance at the output stage. Besides, you're trading higher capacitance for lower inductance. For me, this is a relatively insignificant issue. However, braided cables are less prone to interference. EMI can affect some amp designs as that EMI picked up by the cables may be fed back and amplified ( more potential for this to occur with negative feedback designs ).
"ok, but why though?"
Because I have a massive spool of it in my garage collecting dust.
@@sultros fair enough.
well cat5 cables are not of good quality copper. it won't make a good upgrade for HIFI. but it's great as a pastime project.
This can cause oscillation to ur system,be aware.
Why do this? It seems too time consuming.
Yeah, I'm with you mate! Now I'm using an ordinary cable can't really see the difference.
It is cheap cable, just a lot of work.
never use Cat5 for audio power
Good job...now what is the point of this?
Exactly what I have in mind, that is why I only created one.
widewings007 What are you doing this? You must not have anything better to do with your spare time.
Oneness100 . it just that I have a lot of CAT5 lying around, speaker cable are expensive so though this is a good alternative.
widewings007 Well Cat 5 is 24 Ga wire, if you were to combine all 8 of the wires together you just might make the DC resistance of 18 Ga wire. This is still a far cry from 16Ga or 14Ga.
The level is stupidity of this individual making this video when you can buy pre-made wire
solid core Cat5 bad idea twisting and braiding that, metal fatigue.
will not handle much power at all due to crappy condutor area.
I sure would not set out to do this, but I already have some Cat5 stapled behind the walls and can't fish anymore, so I have no choice. It runs from where the amp is to the TV. I was going to have the TV stream wirelessly and use the existing Cat 5 for a center channel speaker. Anyone else done something like this?
Congrats! You made it to AV Install Nightmares on Facebook. Stupid idea!
You got that right and the level or stupidity is beyond my understanding makes no sense
so you have a Fluke multimeter but you're too cheap to buy a roll of 18awg. durka durka duka.
Melonheadinbed Just curious mate!
Melonheadinbed Did you know there are more uses for it than testing speaker wire? (Light bulb sound)
My best guess in my humble opinion, is that ACTUAL, Solid core Copper, (not copper Clad Aluminum ((CCA}} Cat 5 or 6 cable has to be drawn using precision dies that makes the runs of solid, 24 or 23 AWG copper that is polished, annealed and of a sufficiently fine grade and having at least a minimum of grain boundaries within the copper conductor itself in order to carry signals of up to 25O mhz reliably and consistently over long runs. (Something you just can not accomplish over 12AWG stranded speaker wire, otherwise, ... well, ...will not insult anyone`s intelligence by completing this sentence. *What makes a build like this so intriguing, (as well as the use of this same, finely produced, 23~26AWG copper for RCA Interconnects} is that the delicate and under~ratedly complex high frequency *Dynamic, Musical information* needs to be transmitted as faithfully as possible to your amplifier from your preamp (and in turn, from your amp to your speakers} in order to obtain the kind of response and delivery necessary for those who actually listen to music in full frequency reproduction as an event worth your undivided attention rather than while doing dishes. (Such as listening to John Williams`s version of ``The planets`` by Holst ~ Highly recommended btw. ~The WHY would be that while I also detest the ``audiophile`` bullshit and all the absurdly fancy, bragging rights ``Look at me`` cables out there, There IS actual science and physics that go into making cables meant for audio frequencies and not, say for instance, you car`s battery cable.. which would be a Very ham~fisted approach to speaker cables akin to picking up a very expensive 13th century vase with two Back Hoe`s. One very important thing to note is that with a little over-engineering and common sense as well as a little bit of research, you can realize that you can build your own set up rivaling entire systems nearing 6 figures for an Absurdly small fraction of the price. *Another bit about 5 digit pairs of speakers is that even with all the high quality material involved... you still are dealing with an element of `profit margin`. So, for any given loudspeaker implementing proper internal bracing and quality internal wiring and crossover parts, the Hours that would go into making a single pair of speakers is what you should be paying for. (For example B&W`s Nautilus Loudspeakers,, Go look up how they build those monsters!} Now, Imagine taking the time to build just ONE pair of something similar yourself... and I am NOT talking about a cheap, ghetto~ass mdf garage weekend special,... but a Well thought out, not rushed and well executed design using Quality internal parts and drivers. Do this Once, and enjoy the benefits for DECADES! Go check out **Madisound.com.**. All the drivers they have listed come with their own frequency graph, parameters, etc.. Decide what type of music is Most important to YOU as a listener and go build something beautiful that suits YOU! I hope this helps give a different perspective of the why of things. There are indeed Endless, absurd and horrifically expensive ``Godzilla Oil`` products out there for people with more money than brains but you do not, in ANY way, have to exclude yourself from enjoying Lifelike, Full Frequency reproduction because of cost. ** Especially when you consider the cables capturing all these ``Unobtanium quality Sounds`` in actual recording studios are $25 XLR cables going from condenser mic to the soundboard\mixing console. Cheers!
What a total waste of time, go to Home Depot and get some of their stock 16 or 14 Ga speaker wire, it will work better than this!
Doug Archibald You must have missed the part about impedance/resistance...read again
I didn't see anything about impedance, but the impedance of either cable is negligable in a 4/6/8 ohm system. This is a waste of time, and the resistance will be higher than standard 14 or 16 gauge wire.
No bass at all...
Just go to MCM electronics and buy you speaker wire 100' 14Ga $24
What are u doing man.? take a 220V cable is the same.
+KaZuuZ.! Never heard of this use for 220 cables! O.o any special link about it?
+leponti no. the 380V are even better.!
Does anyone have actual laboratory proof, using recognized test equipment, that any of this is actually necessary, or beneficial, for sound quality, for power transfer, or any other practical/ logical/ theoretical reason, especially, I might add, when listening to the shit music of today AKA rap or grunge, neither of which is actual music?
Hey it IS a question.
Did your girl teach you how to braid?
just use REAL speaker wire. cat 5 cables sound like crap compared to REAL speaker wire.
+TheCrash2769 Exactly what I did after having trouble doing this cable.
Too thin for speakers. Rca cable maybe.
RCA is thinner haha
@ one minute i just fell a sleep to much waist of time to do this just use a drill and they look much better then cover with some flextech
my god thats painful !
Bro tip> do not do this, it's a bad idea
a complete waist of time, 4 pairs are already twisted, and you also didn't need to remove the cable sheathing. What's is your problem??
Why on earth would anyone do this firstly it's cheap enough to buy and made for purpose,solid core cable isn't good as speaker cable wrong impedance and cheaply made...save yourself the trouble and do yourself a favour and buy the real thing.
Complete wast of time! Get 16 gauge lamp cord!
true
What an ugly cable😂
Thanks.