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Thread: A good use for old Cat5!

  1. #11
    Modders block rendermandan's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    yes you can use cat 5 for phone wireing. infact most homes built today are now running that now. but if your going to do that, I would recomment running Cat 6E to every room along with at Cat 5 for phone, that way you could have a whole home network setup prewired for the future.

  2. #12
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    I chose 6 strands (3 per side) for simplicity. Braiding 3 is easy.. 4 is harder. Plus, with 3 strands (total of 12 pairs of wire) I ended up with a final wire of about 12awg, which is the same as the Monster Cable speaker wire I tested against, but with the benefit of loads of twists for noise cancellation.

    You can go larger if you like.. I read about one guy using 54 pairs total to make wires for 2 speakers.. way too much braiding for me.

    I'm only running 15w peak (probably about 5-8w in reality) through this wire, but it's easily large enough to handle 100w+.. it was more about clarity for me than anything else.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  3. #13
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    OK, just made a set of interconnects also from Cat5.

    I cut 2 lengths of around 2 ft, and removed the twisted pairs from the casing. I then removed the brown/brown white pairs from each, and seperated the blue/green/and orange pairs into groups.

    I then braided the blue/green/orange pairs together (6 pairs total) to get about 1.5ft total. Since I am making a mini plug to RCA cable, I separated the 12 wires into groups of 4.

    I made the green/greenwhite pairs a common ground, and the blue was right channel, orange was left channel. Soldered them all into a mini plug, and tested to make sure no shorts.

    Next, split the orange and half the green/greenwhite pairs to make the left RCA, and the blue and other half of the green/greenwhite pairs to make the right RCA connection.

    Soldered all together, and checked with the continuity tester. No problems, so it was time for a live test.

    Plugged it in, and... disappointing. Not nearly as good as I'd hoped, and certainly not as good as the Cat5 speaker cable turned out.

    In all fairness, it might need some break-in time (according to some audio forums) so I'll keep playing it all night, and review them again tomorrow.

    So far, my hifi setup for my office has been pretty cheap..

    Sonic Impact Super T-Amp - $159.99 CAD
    Speaker stands - $25 on Boxing Day from Bestbuy
    M-Audio Mobile Pre USB - $185.99 (almost 2 years ago)
    Sony Bookshelf Speakers - Free.. wife's old mini system
    Speaker Wire - Free.. made from salvaged Cat5
    Assorted plugs to make cables - $15ish from Radio Shack
    Audio Source - Work laptop.. already had that too.



    As I've said before.. it's not a super loud system, but the sound is amazing.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  4. #14
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    OK, I know that this is a computer forum, but I had to scrap the computer from this setup for playback.

    I've replaced the laptop + M-Audio external soundcard with a PSX. Yes, an old school grey playstation. Model SCPH-1001 to be exact.. the only one with RCA jacks right on the playstation itself.

    As it turns out, the sound from this thing is unfreakinbelievable!!!!

    Sounds WAAAAY better than the lossless audio files, or even CD playback from the laptop with the external M-Audio (which still sounded/sounds prety damn good)!

    I picked up 2 of these playstations for $25 each at a pawn shop in Edmonton, and the owner said he'd watch for more of this model for me.

    SO... total cost on the stereo is now updated!

    Sonic Impact Super T-Amp - $159.99 CAD
    Speaker stands - $25 on Boxing Day from Bestbuy
    Sony Bookshelf Speakers - Free.. wife's old mini system
    Speaker Wire - Free.. made from salvaged Cat5
    Assorted plugs to make cables - $15ish from Radio Shack
    Sony Playstation SCPH-1001 -$25
    Funtak (bluetack) to attach speakers to stands (stability) - $4
    Floor spikes for speaker stands - Free, thanks to Audioark in Edmonton

    Total cost = $228.99

    Now I had a chance to hear a stereo @ Audioark that was close to $10,000 retail. My little system sounded 90% as good. Once I fill the stands with sand, add the floor spikes, and position the speakers right, it should be 99% as good.. just a whole lot cheaper.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  5. #15
    t3h f3cKiN 33Ji7 calumc's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    Quote Originally Posted by Crazy Buddhist View Post
    I'm starting to worry that I may become genuinely funny at some point. Then there will be no hope.

  6. #16
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    Haha.. fair enough. Pics on the way!

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  7. #17
    ATX Mental Case Killdrath's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    I recycled some cat5 in a similar manner.

    My living room "tv" is an LCD projector (currently hooked up through a used Dell via a tv tuner card), but my speaker system is all wired to the sub in the center of the far side of the room. So, I used a run of cat 5 to make a really really long set of RCA cables to go around the room. I didnt compare them to the monster cables I have, but the sound is pretty excellent.

    And yes, getting rid of the Dell for a true HTPC *is* in the planning stages.

  8. #18
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    Heres the office.. it's cleaner now, I swear!



    A bit clearer shot of the desktop..



    And a detail shot showing the playstation and the amp....


    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  9. #19
    Keepin' it Metal .Maleficus.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    Jesus... that's some thick wire...

    Though I may try it out when my new speakers come. I've got loads of Cat5 sitting in my room.
    RIP Bucko

  10. #20
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: A good use for old Cat5!

    If you do try it, you may find that the wire clips wont accept wire this size. I had to do some serious twisting/crushing with pliers to get the ends of the wire into the clips on the speakers. Fortunately the amp had banana plugs on it, so I just put on some good quality ends, and *click*.

    Either way, make sure you compare the difference between the stock wire and the cat5 wire with the same recording.. I'm positive that you'll be impressed.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

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