Please assure me I'm not going to burn my house down.


I recently bought some new mono class D amps to replace a stereo class D. I had a pair of identical diy power cords connected to the stereo amp and my preamp.

Well, with monos I was obviously going to use the identical power cords. So I needed a new PC for my pre, as the older diy version I had laying around just used thhn wire from Lowe’s and didn’t sound great. So, after some thought and research, I decided to make a PC out of cat 5 plenum cable. I kept it in its blue sleeve (containing 4 twisted pairs) and then I braided 3 lengths together for each conductor. I then took those three braids and braided them. What I have sounds incredible and I’m fairly confident that it is safe electrically.

Please reassure me. Or tell me I forgot about x, and that I should cease and desist. Or laugh at how cheap I am...

But really, I’m not going to start a fire here, am I? 8 conductors per length x 3 lengths for each conductor equals 24 strands of 24awg. Which equals 10awg for each conductor...
128x128toddverrone
The actual insulation around the wire itself is Teflon... I think the blue outer sleeve is PVC.
Not from my experience. The outer jacket is Teflon and the insulation around the wire is PVC. It is the outer jacket of the cable that is plenum rated.

In the case of Belden they stopped using Teflon for the outer jacket of their plenum rated cable years ago. Belden developed their own outer jacket material. It is called Flamarrest®.
Outer Jacket Trade Name Outer Jacket Material
Flamarrest® LS PVC - Low Smoke Polyvinyl Chloride

//

That said, this was just meant to be an experiment to see what I think about multiple solid gauge conductors, separately insulated and braided together to form larger conductors. I’ll probably do something similar out of 20 or 18 gauge 600v wire. Any recommendations? OCC or the like would be nice.

There are quite a few cable company manufactures that make after market power cords for audio equipment that use multiple paralleled individually insulated solid core wire for each of the two current carrying conductors of their cords.

Examples of aftermarket power cords using multiple insulated solid core conductors.

PS Audio
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PSPWAC5

Pangea Audio AC 9SE MKII Signature Power Cable
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGAC9S2

Audioquest
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-wi4RnpruA6y/p_703NRG23F/AudioQuest-NRG-2-3-ft.html

Shunyata
METALS AND CONDUCTORSCCC
- COMPUTER CONTROLLED CRYOGENICSPROPRIETARY PROCESSESVTX™
 ConductorsShunyata Research’s exclusive VTX™ conductors are made in the shape of virtual tubes. The core of the conductor is completely hollow minimizing skin effects and random eddy currents. They are produced using OFE Alloy-101

http://www.shunyata.com/images/technical_features/pdfs/pwr_tech_201509.pdf
Not sure of their actual construction design. I couldn’t find any actual pictures.

Note in all cases the outer protective insulation covering the hot and neutral conductors/wires is PVC and rated for mains power handling applications.


Todd - thanks for the feedback :-)

It’s always good to get feedback about what components they work well with.

I found their benefits were more noticeable on the components with "less robust" power supplies - such as source components.

By contrast, the benefits on my amp (with a large transformer) were more subtle in nature - such as more clarity in the more delicate venue reverberations.

Cheers
At least use Cat6, lol. Seriously though, Cat5 type cable is specifically designed for LOW VOLTAGE applications. You're playing with fire here.
I promise, if you do the research you can confirm, cat 5 that is UL listed is rated to 300v
@williewonka I was using them with a dared mc 7p pre and a class D crown xls1500. Now they're powering 2 Ghent audio 500w class D monoblocks. I find with class D that the heavier gauge conductor makes a big difference in sonic performance, especially bass control. The helix cables I made have 10 gauge main conductors..