[mythtv-users] New house - any advise?

Steven Adeff adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com
Wed Jan 17 02:03:27 UTC 2007


On 1/16/07, Chris Ribe <chrisribe at gmail.com> wrote:
> > One way to cut down on costs for these zones is to run CAT5 instead of
> > speaker cable. You can save a lot of money this way if you can find
> > cheap CAT5 locally via ebay/craigslist. My dad found a guy that ended
> > up costing about $100 for 250ft of CAT5 turned speaker wire (two runs
> > for pos two runs for neg). An advantage of CAT5 over speaker wire is
> > that the insulation is better, and since the strands are individually
> > insulated you don't have to worry as much about moisture causing cable
> > rot, which can be a big concern for in wall speaker wiring. Plus the
> > copper is really high quality so the sound quality is very good.
>
>
> Veering off topic here, but this sound like a really questionable idea.
> CAT5 is cheaper than speaker wire because copper is expensive, and CAT5
> doesn't contain much copper.   It just isn't designed for a high current
> application like driving speakers.
>
> Assuming you use all 8 strands in one wire as a single speaker wire (which
> is the wrong way to do it, but nevermind that for now), and run 2 pieces of
> CAT5 per speaker, the cross sectional area of your conductors is equivalent
> to that of 18ga. speaker wire, and your cost (if purchased new) is about
> twice as much as 14ga. in wall speaker wire!
>
> If you can source lots of CAT5 for next to nothing, go ahead and use it, I'd
> suggest following a couple guidelines:  a) Use the twisted pairs like God
> intended and always split them between a positive and negative signal
> and
> b) Use at least 32 conductors per audio channel (positive and negative
> combined) to get the equivalent of 16ga. speaker wire.

Check the DIY audio forums, its a known method for running in wall speakers.

-- 
Steve
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