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CAT 6 Loudspeaker cable made from category 6 computer network cable A cheap way of making your own high quality loudspeaker cable. The ingredients What you need is some nice quality category 6 computer network cable, I used Belden 7812e Datatwist. This CAT 6 cable consists of four unshielded twisted pairs (UTP) of 23-AWG size solid-core copper wire with polyethylene insulation in a blue pvc jacket. The twisted pairs form a star-quad configuration with a cross-shaped spacer down the centre of the cable, keeping the pairs at a constant distance from each other. Here are some spec's: Maximum voltage rating is 48V; continuous current 1,4A; nominal mutual capacitance at 1 kHz 80 nF/km; maximum conductor DCR = 77 Ohm/km; Nominal Velocity of Propagation 0,70 c; Propagation delay difference (100 MHz) typical ≤ 15 ns/100m; Impedance 1 - 100 MHz 100 ± 15 Ohm; Impedance 100 - 250 MHz 100 ± 18 Ohm.
To connect my loudspeakers I needed about 4 metres per side. Each side consists of three lengths of cable so I needed a total of about 24 metres. Furthermore you will need some nylon cable sleeving for looks, some heat-shrink and gold-plated beryllium bananaplugs for terminating and don't forget a pinch of silver-solder.
The recipe First of all strip the ends of the cables of their outer insulation so that about 50 millimeters of wire becomes visable. Then strip about 15 millimeters of insulation from the individual wires and twist the corresponding colours from each cable with each other at one end. Hold the three main cables together using a bit of silk tape. Twist the corresponding colours together at one end and then solder. Leave the other end until after the next stage.
When you have twisted at one end only then plat the three cables together like girls do to make pig-tails in their hair. Then twist the corresponding colours at the other end of the cables and solder as done before and cut the ends so that they are all equal in length. Next is the cosmetic stage: slide the nylon sleeving over the cable bunches and some blue (to match the cable) heat-shrink over the twisted cable ends.
With some large diameter heatshrink you make the transition between the cable-sleeving and the cable ends. Terminate the cables with the banana-plugs using silver solder to fix. Finally use some red and black heat-shrink to make a nice transition from the cable ends to the banana-plugs and for colour-coding the plus and minus.
The result Besides the more proffessional appearance compared to my old CAT 5 cables, these CAT 6 cables are a nice step-up in sound quality. The overall "sound" is clearer and more detailed but still coherent and with the low-end in balance with the rest of the spectrum. Tony Gee, The Netherlands, June 2006 No part of this website may be reproduced in any form without written or email consent from the author. These designs are free for non-commercial use. Copyright © Tony Gee 2008 |
