Will CAT 5 speaker cables hurt the AKSA 100?

Corn-Picker · « **on:** 1 Feb 2003, 07:32 pm »

Will high capacitance speaker cables send the AKSA 100 into unstable oscillations?

I'm planning on using braided CAT 5 cables from the AKSA 100 to a pair of Paradigm Reference Studio/40s (about 5 feet of CAT 5 cable to each speaker).

Braided CAT 5 is a high capacitance wire, although it has lower capacitance than some of the high end Goetz speaker cables. Honestly, I can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on speaker cable, so I wanted to see if the frugal alternative of braided CAT 5 wire is superior to the 12 gauge braided Monster wire I've been using thus far. I'll be using 24k Dayton interconnects to connect the amp to the speakers.

PSP · « **Reply #1 on:** 1 Feb 2003, 08:04 pm »

If you want to use these cables, you might look at the AA archives (or write to Chris VenHaus to ask about the capacitance per foot) for his design, then check in with Hugh about the upper limit for capacitance with the AKSA 100.

An alternative is Jon Risch's CC89259 recipe, a low-inductance design with relatively low capacitance too. I've used these with my 55w AKSA for most of a year, no trouble, and very nice sonics. There have been numerous reviews of this cable (and a new one today) on AA, the great majority have been very favorable. Also, they are a LOT less work than the Cat5 cables.

Construction details at: http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/

You can order Belden 89259 coax from Anixter.com...

http://onlinecatalog.anixter.com/SearchResultsServlet?QUERY=KEYWORD-SEARCH&KEYWORD=89259

actually, you enter what you want (50-100 feet in your case) and a local distributor will call /e-mail you with a quote. It works quite well. For 100 feet of 89259 I paid roughly $150 (this is a lot of speaker cables and interconnects, but I've got two 55w AKSAs and a 100w AKSA (single channel) sub amp).

Peter

JohnR · « **Reply #2 on:** 1 Feb 2003, 08:08 pm »

And don't forget, some nutter has even put detailed construction piccies of CC89259 on the web

http://www.tubeaholic.com/projects/page.view?RowId=66

AKSA · « **Reply #3 on:** 1 Feb 2003, 09:21 pm »

And that nutter is JohnR, whose alter ego is tubeholic!! Thanks John!

I have revisited the CAT5E experience with Malcolm Fear, and found this reference at T-Line speakers, a MARVELLOUS site for those of you who like a good speaker.

Here's the reference: http://www.t-linespeakers.org/oddsends/drabittX/cat5.html

Any AKSA is fine with up to around 5,000pF of capacitance in its speaker wires. Mal uses 8 pairs, braided, but 16 pairs is way too much. Note Aaron Drabitt's comments on the resistance/impedance - CAT5E is excellent for this purpose as it is so flat at high frequencies.

However, the danger is RF pickup. It may be quite susceptible given it's open construction. In contrast, the Belden cross-connected CC89259 would seem far more resistant to RF break-in, but really this problem must be solved empirically since all locations varying in their immersion in RFI.

Cheers,

Hugh

Occam · « **Reply #4 on:** 1 Feb 2003, 11:58 pm »

Iff'n you're looking for 89259 for cross coupled speaker cable (or interconnects), a good source is, at a good price -
https://www.meunierusa.com:7070/catalog/Search.htm
just enter 89259, and it will show pricing for 100 & 1000' rolls; currently $116Usd/100'.

What interconnects and speaker cable made from this reasonably priced (for what it is) cable represent are what I call the - 'mininmum level of mediocraty', e.g. doodads, even I can make, that are subjectively(IMO) far superior to anything near the cost. This is not to say that other choices might be more to your subjective liking, but from a minimum effort and piddling cost perspective, they are hard to beat.
The cc 89259 speaker cables sound very similar to my Tara Phase II TFA, sumth'n, sumth'n cables, a lovely cable who's claim to fame was the Australian copper used, go figure....

An addition I'd like to add to the 'mlom' list is Volex power cords 17604 (2M), 17605 (3Meters), $6.67 & $4.81ea respectivly in quantities of 2 or more from -
http://www.carlton-bates.com/search/search.asp

I'm not about to engage in that "last 6' of hundreds of mile of cable" piss'n contest, and will simply state that even the cheapest of AKSA builder should try it. Actually, its generally less expensive to buy the complete terminated Volex cords than the equivalent raw Belden 19364 cable. Now you might well be able to improve the Volex by changing it to an 'Asylum' cord by changing the plug and IEC connectors. Is the tripling of cost worth it? Depends on your metrics. But I can say that I've never met someone who thought these Volexs were'nt a tremendous improvement over the typical stock cord. And I've met folks who compared their 'bargain' $100+ cords to the Volexs and were quite upset.

Rocket · « **Reply #5 on:** 2 Feb 2003, 02:04 am »

hello,

i'm interested in the volex power cords does anyone know if there is a distributor in australia?

regards

rod

Malcolm Fear · « **Reply #6 on:** 2 Feb 2003, 06:50 am »

CAT 5 speaker cable.

I use 8 strand speaker cable - that is 4 pairs.
I did try 16 strand (8 pair). It sounded alright, but nowhere near as good as 8 strand.
I use the AKSA 55, 6 foot speaker leads and 16 ohm full range speakers.
A friend has an AKSA 55, 10 foot speaker leads and Ambience ribbon speakers (4 to 6 ohm). He found that 8 strands were better.

Occam · « **Reply #7 on:** 2 Feb 2003, 05:29 pm »

Rocket -
Apologies to you for forgeting the international interest in and origin origin of Aksa. Volex does have a sales rep in Melbourne -
http://www.volexasia.com/catalog.asp

As to what Volex has available for the Australian market and those product's efficacy, dunno.... Australian voltages differ from ours, and your wall plugs and sockets are certainly better than those in N. America.
But I will describe what the 17604(5) PCs do have.
3x14ga(1.63mm dia) tinned copper conductors, bedfoil shielded. The 3 cabled conductors have fillers (plastic on the Volex cords, natural fiber on actual Belden 19364) to space the Bedfoil shielding away from the conductors. Identically speced cords, without these fillers to space the shielding away from conductors (like those from Unicable) sound absolutely wretched. I assume the difference is that the Volex cords minimize the capacitance between the shield and power conductors. I'm not suggesting that this spaced shield is the ultimate powercord, (multiple twisted power wires or star-quad are alternative methods to reject EMI/RFI interference) but simply that the specific Volex cords provide tremendous bang for the buck.

Jonpike · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 Feb 2003, 10:46 pm »

Curious on a couple of things..

How are you wiring these? Tie two wires together for one side, then one on the other? (assuming shield goes to amp chassis)

And, you wouldn't happen to have a cap meter, to give us some readings on how much these have?

Thanks..

Jon

Occam · « **Reply #9 on:** 5 Feb 2003, 04:27 pm »

I assume you're asking as to how the shield is connected to the grounding on both the plug and the IEC end???? On the premade Volex cords, the drain wire for the Bedfoil shield is conntected to the ground at both the plug and the IEC connector. The 'Asylum' cord generally calls for connecting the shield only at the wall plug end, making the shield a 'Faraday cage'. This can be done if eliminating the IEC altogether and hardwiring, replacing the molded IEC with an 'Audiophile approved' IEC like a Marinco or Wattgate (increasing the cost of your cord fourfold). or with a judicious bit of surgery on the cord right below where it connects to the molded IEC and using a bit of electrical tape. To be honest, I did not percieve a sonic difference between the shield connected at the IEC or when left floating. YMMV.

Sorry, lacking an LCR meter, I've not measured the ground to hot and ground to neutral capacitance to see the effect of spacing the shield away from the conductors. I can only relate anecdotally that the unspaced (discovered by unlicensed circumcision) shield Unicable cable sounded bloated, disconnected rythmically, and strangely 'vivid'. Other than the spacing of the shield, the Volex cable's construction appears substantially the same. I've built other powercords with multiple conductors (15) who's geometry also multiplied the 'to ground' capacitance via a shield, and which exhibited the exact same sonic features.