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Question:

Home Theater Speaker Wire?

Has anyone tried to use or experiment to use CAT5E wire on a speaker going to Home theater receiver? If none, can you suggest a good speaker wire to use on a speaker.Paradigm Monitor Series and Onkyo TX-SR606 (Speaker and Receiver)

Answer:

You okorder . Now - I have seen formulas that do use Cat5 cable for speaker wires. It involves: * Measuring the distances from amp to speaker. Multiply this by 1.3. * Take 8 Cat 5 wires of that extended length. * Cut the outer sheath to free the 8 tiny inner wires * Sit in front of the TV and braid the 8 wires into 4 chains. * Sit in front of the TV and braid the 4 chains into 2. * Sit in front of the TV and braid the 2 chains into 1. * Solder or twist the 8 bare wires on either end together Then - you have speaker wire for the + terminal. Repeat for the - terminal and eventually you can wire up 1 speaker after hours of finger-numbing work. While you may have 'pride' for creating your own speaker wires - the 0.002% improvement you might get over store bought wire seems hardly worth it. Hope this helps.
In my opinion, stranded individual wires degrade the sound, while thin flat copper foil gives the best sonic result. The difference is truly amazing.
You can use Cat5 as speaker wire, you need to twist all the wires together and use one wire for positive and another for negative, there are several tutorials on the net on how to use it for best results but its really more trouble than its worth, I use OFC wire from parts express, but any OFC wire or copper wire should do...For shorter runs (under 15 Ft) any speaker wire should work as long as its the proper guage, wire,.. needs to be thicker for longer runs, the guage of the wire is more important than what wire you use, I use 14 guage all the way around just makes it easier to set up and looks better. Inside walls you want to use CL3 wire...this is what code requires in most states...the guage of your wire is going to be determined by the length of your run and the nominal impedance of your speaker, I linked to a chart below that will help you determine guage for your system....what I usually look for is flexability cheaper wire tend to be stiff and is hard to work with while better wire is very flexable, but either will work...
Speaker wire is a big subject that prompts some very heated debates amongst the serious enthusiast crowd. Using CAT5 as speaker cable is typically prompted by way of either one of two ideas: Saving money, or improving performance. I will see the point in saving money in comparison with say hi-Fi speaker cables at $5/ft, however there are flawlessly good OFC copper cables of decent gauge such as seventy nine strand that clearly work out simply as low priced. The opposite drawback with fee saving is that not all CAT5e is created equal. Plenty of the finances stuff from China is copper clad aluminium as an alternative than pure copper. You would not ever choose to run your speakers with aluminium cable, so why take the threat if making use of CAT5e? Efficiency is some thing exclusive. That's very subjective. The reasoning why CAT5e is based on the excessive frequency efficiency of the cable. However in hi-fi world we need current delivery greater than excessive frequency extension. My own view is that CAT5e sounds distinctive adequate to - purchase not necessarily better than - normal OFC 79 strand for many listeners to listen to the trade fairly without problems. Treble and to a lesser measure the bass gets accentuated at the rate of midrange. It's a bit like hitting the Loudness button. The sound has a bit of extra presence at the expense of naturalness. Individually I believe the advantages are doubtful and now not worth the effort. Get a tight gauge OFC that's satisfactory and bendy alternatively than some plaited network cable.
Speaker wire is a big subject that prompts some very heated debates amongst the serious enthusiast crowd. Using CAT5 as speaker cable is usually motivated by either one of two thoughts: Saving money, or improving performance. I can see the point in saving money compared to say Hi-Fi speaker cables at $5/ft, but there are perfectly good OFC copper cables of decent gauge such as 79 strand that actually work out just as cheap. The other issue with cost saving is that not all CAT5e is created equal. A lot of the budget stuff from China is copper clad aluminium rather than pure copper. You'd never choose to run your speakers with aluminium cable, so why take the risk if using CAT5e? Performance is something different. That's very subjective. The reasoning why CAT5e is based on the high frequency performance of the cable. But in hi-fi world we need current delivery more than high frequency extension. My own view is that CAT5e sounds different enough to - buy not necessarily better than - basic OFC 79 strand for most listeners to hear the change fairly easily. Treble and to a lesser degree the bass gets accentuated at the expense of midrange. It's a bit like hitting the Loudness button. The sound has a bit more presence at the expense of naturalness. Personally I think the benefits are dubious and not worth the effort. Get a decent gauge OFC that's nice and flexible rather than some plaited network cable.

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