Ethernet cable from amps to speakers

[analogica]

Hi there audiofellas!

 

I setting up a system and the last thing to buy are the cables, I have been told by some people that ethernet cable works really well as cable speaker, 2 cables twisted/braided from each pole, so 8 cables in total, have you ever tried them? any suggestions?

 

Thanks guys!

[esldude]

Hi there audiofellas!

 

I setting up a system and the last thing to buy are the cables, I have been told by some people that ethernet cable works really well as cable speaker, 2 cables twisted/braided from each pole, so 8 cables in total, have you ever tried them? any suggestions?

 

Thanks guys!

 

They will work. Rather a pain to construct. Just get some Blue jeans cable. Life is too short.

[PopPop]

I made some DIY cables from Ethernet cable. 3X3X3 braiding. They gave a little boost to the base (punch) when powering Magnepan panels.

[PopPop]

 

I totally agree, they were a PITA to braid, gave me blisters on my thumbs. 27 wires per conductor.

[mansr]

This is a Litz wire. The design avoids some losses in high-frequency, high-current applications.

[PopPop]

Hi there audiofellas!

 

I setting up a system and the last thing to buy are the cables, I have been told by some people that ethernet cable works really well as cable speaker, 2 cables twisted/braided from each pole, so 8 cables in total, have you ever tried them? any suggestions?

 

Thanks guys!

 

If you decide to do this, I have more Cat5 cable than I will ever use. I would be happy to send you some.

[analogica]

hi there guys, thanks for the quick replays...

 

I got a few meters of this guys at home: CANARE L-4E5C CABLE Black

 

Are they good enough? should I put 2 per pole as well?

 

Ive been thinking about this ones :

CANARE CATEGORY 5E - DEPLOYABLE STRANDED CONDUCTOR SCREENED MULTIPAIR CABLE - Canford

 

Do you think the differenece will be massive? do I have to open and twist em again?

 

The system is 2 hypex ucd 400 to tylers d1x, some fellas bought van den hul cable and they told me that they could barely notice anything...im quite lost about speaker cables but it seems like the job can be done with tons of them out there.

 

Any other choice that you really liked, mogami, belden, van damme, gotham?

 

Ill check those LIZTZ ones, never heard of em...Thanks again guys

[PopPop]

Do a search for DIY cat5 speaker cable. Chris VenHaus has many suggestions about design and materials. He maintains that the insulation type is important. I used Belden 1871A.

[analogica]

oook, From what i heard canare quad is also good for that, tonewise maybe is quite standard but insulation works great...searching!

[mansr]

Ill check those LIZTZ ones, never heard of em...Thanks again guys

 

Litz wire is just a name for cable made from many individually insulated strands woven or braided together, which is what you described making from the Ethernet cables. The main idea is to reduce the impact of skin effect with high currents at (low) radio frequencies. At audio frequencies the skin effect is minimal, but some people still think it worthwhile. My view is that I'd rather avoid the trouble and use a slightly heavier gauge regular wire.

[PopPop]

Litz wire is just a name for cable made from many individually insulated strands woven or braided together, which is what you described making from the Ethernet cables. The main idea is to reduce the impact of skin effect with high currents at (low) radio frequencies. At audio frequencies the skin effect is minimal, but some people still think it worthwhile. My view is that I'd rather avoid the trouble and use a slightly heavier gauge regular wire.

 

That's the conclusion I came to as well. By the time I completed braiding, the cables were shorter than I expected, despite allowing for the shortening effect of the construction. I didn't like them so much that I was willing to go through more pain.

[Sam Lord]

Using an undersized speaker cable is bad enough. Using it with Hypex amps is a *really* bad idea. Reason: you lose much of the excellent damping of those amps. From Hypex UcD or nCore you want very short low-Z cables. 12GA cables have a resistance of about 1.5mOhms/ft, divide by 2 for 9GA and again by 2 for 6GA. Good thing you have two amps to keep the cables short, that's a huge plus for those super-low-impedance amps. Inductance also drops proportionally with length, so you needn't worry much about cable inductance. Definitely bi-wire if your speakers enable it, or bi-amp if you have enough channels.

 

For more information, do searches on the very lengthy Hypex UcD and nCore threads on DIYAudioforum. The latter thread is over 10,000 posts long....

 

Hypex nCore