DIY speaker cable made from cat 5 type cable

For future reference:

http://www.mcmaster.com/

Part number: 7365K17

Category 5E Cable Standard, Gray Jacket

Quantity Per Ft.
1-99 Ft. $0.24
100 or more 0.19

Eterc, that cable is not the good FEP insulation type which is the type that is called for in all the DIY literature. Right below it on the catalog page are 7365K23 and 28 which are both FEP Plenum rated type which might be ok. I found some cat 5 cable at Home Depot that I thought was ok but only 3 of the 4 pairs were the FEP type insulation with the other being PVC type.

Everyone's talking about the cable, but for essentially the same cost you may be able to make something better than the CAT5 braid. Yes, it did sound better than stock 12 uage speaker wire, but it also had a bit of a smearing effect. This was not terribly noticeable to me until I heard it removed though, so YMMV.

I am talking about a pair I made by just braiding 3 CAT5 wires together. This smearing may be lessened if you take the cables apart and match up wire pairs with similar twist ratios. That is a lot of work though.

Jon's 89259 cross conencts have a much clearer presentation and no smearing of the treble. Imaging is more precise and defined than with the CAT5.

Good luck,
Bob

Bob,
What you're describing doesn't follow the typical recipes for Cat5 braids...leaving the PVC insulation on (containing 4 twisted pairs) & just braiding them would be a Cat5 faux pas.

Braiding them is a little work (not that bad really), but one can either do the work themselves & keep the cost down or pay for someone else's labor or margin..we all pick out poison.

Eterc,
good source, wrong part number.