[RawB8figure]

Would this make good speaker wire. I don't have alot of experience with DIY high speaker cable.



http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=9522&SID=

Let me know if I am going in the right direction

Thanks

[shep]

Probably will sound awful but I can't tell you why (brighter minds will) Make your own. It's cheap, easy and sounds marvelous. I have two reliable sources for high quality wire; http://www.diyaudiostore.com and http://www.ahfartaudio.com/. They are slightly different both in gauge and approach to dialectic. If there is one topic that creates a fairly unanimous consent on this forum, it is this one! If we had our way, expensive cables would be a thing of the past. The nice part is that it ends the guessing game and lets you spend your money where it matters.

[BubbleChamber]

Good cheap alternative to start. Here's a link to build speaker cables using cat5 network cables.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/triple_t_e.html

[jonwb]

Another popular CAT5 speaker wire recipe:

http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html

Positively brutal on the fingers and very time consuming.  I made a bi-wire set of these (9 wire set for tweets & 27 wire set for woofers). 

[goldlizsts]

Good cheap alternative to start. Here's a link to build speaker cables using cat5 network cables.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/triple_t_e.html

I used CAT5.  Awful! (Currently use Harm Tech 9 Plus I think, etc.).  There must be a reason why all those other commercially sold cables are presumably better, and much costlier.  Any explanation?  CAT5 wires must be also say copper, pure to 90%?  A friend kept saying they only facilitate the passing of an electric signal.  Well.... We do know that one wire has a personality different from another.  What?  Why? That's still the dilemma and argument in the audio world.

[BobM]

I also tried the Cat 5 and found that it smeared the signal and didn't sound "sharp". Perhaps due to the different twist ratios on the pairs.

A much better alternative is Jon Risch's cross connected Belden 89259. A little more expensive in materials, and a little tricky in the end connections, but far better sound overall. You can find the details in tthe FAQ section at Audio Asylum.

Enjoy,
Bob

[shep]

I think the reason why people still buy "store bought" cables for big buck is twofold: they generally look nice and you want them to be better! I mean "they" are supposed to know better, otherwise why ask serious money? The short and simple is that after all these years, nobody has come up with the "perfect" cable or they are hiding it real well.
Why complicate matters for the guy? Spare your fingers and your mind. Buy some short runs of Anti-cable,
Use them bare (no connectors), play with directionality until you're sure which is "right". If you don't like them, someone will. If you do, there are probably slightly better alternatives based on the same principle
(see my links) and your wallet has hardly broken a sweat.

[shep]

I remembered I had a rather gamey pair of Isoda speaker wires I bought years ago. They were my first hi-end cable and were pricey. Some strange mixture of different metals. Just for the hell of it I hooked them up just now. My god they sound dreadfull! System mismatch? Don't think so. Just a bad design. I put my diy solid core 40$'s back on. Instant bliss. real notes vibrating in real space, air, extension at both ends, tonal purity, emotional content (whatever that means!) This is a no-brainer as they say.

[Kevin Haskins]

I'm a fan of the Canare 4S11 if you want something inexpensive.   Its $1.25/ft so it won't break the bank.   

If you want to spend more money my current favorite "high-end" cable is the Cardas Twinlink.   It cost about $6 linear foot.   One of the benefits of the Cardas is that the wire is coated so you never have an oxidation problem.   

[Russtafarian]

The problem I've found with sound of CAT-5 is the insulation, not the wire.  My interconnects of stripped&polished CAT-5 solid core wire loosely insulated with 14 gauge teflon tubing sound very nice.  Of course this is not a very practical approach for speaker wire.

[kfr01]

I'm going to second Kevin's opinion on the Canare... Pick up some of his other products and you can make a great performing and looking cable.  See my effort:

[ecramer]

I will have ti throw in a plug for my favorite diy cable which is the house cable from www.bluejeanscable.com It just gets the job done without making my wallet scream for mercy

[phil25]

I had some anti-cable thought it sounded smeared and dark sounding. I used it with my fostex fe206e drivers.

I think the reason why people still buy "store bought" cables for big buck is twofold: they generally look nice and you want them to be better! I mean "they" are supposed to know better, otherwise why ask serious money? The short and simple is that after all these years, nobody has come up with the "perfect" cable or they are hiding it real well.
Why complicate matters for the guy? Spare your fingers and your mind. Buy some short runs of Anti-cable,
Use them bare (no connectors), play with directionality until you're sure which is "right". If you don't like them, someone will. If you do, there are probably slightly better alternatives based on the same principle
(see my links) and your wallet has hardly broken a sweat.

[phil25]

Nice cables. Were did you buy them?

I'm going to second Kevin's opinion on the Canare... Pick up some of his other products and you can make a great performing and looking cable.  See my effort:

[shep]

was that me pontificating? You are the first to describe Anti C's as dark and smeared. Mine are surely nothing of the sort http://www.ahfartaudio.com/. Maybe this has to do with copper quality and dialectic. I've asked about this before but noone wanted to step in the quicksand

[Kevin Haskins]

Nice cables. Were did you buy them?

I'm going to second Kevin's opinion on the Canare... Pick up some of his other products and you can make a great performing and looking cable.  See my effort:

That particular cable is Canare 4S11 with 3/8" techflex, our Exodus expanding bananas and premium Exodus spades.   Total parts cost is about $35-$40 for an 8ft pair.