Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Proof that Speaker Cables Do Matter!

Exactly. The ethernet cable is entirely different. It's built to carry low power high frequency signals. The speaker cable only has to carry frequencies as high a 22 kHz, but at a much greater power level. The inductance of the cable comes into play at these ultra-high frequencies (read open circuit).

A nice thick gauge cable (12 to 14 gauge) of any maker will suffice for speaker wire use.

I was also going to make a comment about the sample size, but John beat me to it.

I know. I was just replying "in general" and wanted to make sure that I'm not in the "wow...must be expensive so it must be good...." crowd. Although I tend to think you get what you paid for, in audio, that doesn't really apply. I also used the Cat3/5 example because I knew you had an IT background. Hey, it's in your profile!

Hi folks, without getting into the quality of cable = better sound argument, the Cat3 example caught my eye as requiring some further explanation.

Cat 3 verses Cat 5 wiring is not a relevant example for analogue sound transfer. The difference that cat5 cas over cat3 is not so much quality but in design and it is designed to assist where you have multiple data paths all flowing through the same sheathed cable.

The difference is in the way the pairs inside are twisted. Cat 3 has multiple pairs of wires but these pairs are not twisted together individually. It's designed for analogue signal such as phone use and works fine for that.

Cat 5 is designed for things like computer data transfer where each pair has separate data signals traveling through it simultaneously. The only significant difference is that each of the pairs are twisted together to help 'insulate' each pair from the other pairs signal via induction.



It is the twists that make this a better choice for data transfers, it is not the 'quality' of the cable. Without the twists effecting the magnetic fields to reduce induction, you would be limited to very short lengths for data transfers. This is not nearly as relevant to a single pair of speaker wires, even if they are mixed in the wall with a few other speaker wires.

Not being argumentative at all, just thought I could help clear up this point.

As someone who has terminated many ethernet cables over the years, I can't help but recite:

orange-white
orange
green-white
blue
blue-white
green
brown-white
brown

whenever I see an unsheathed cable.

Oh good, someone who terminates cat-5 the same way I do.

Although these days I generally demand 5e or 6.

Well, I guess they could do what they alway do at the end of a "boring" episode: Cram some C4 in the speakers and blow it up at the end ;-)

oh, the humanity!

I got the impression that they were actually kind of tired of doing explosions. Adam, Peter, did you get that feeling too?

Explosions are cool.

They are the audience's bitches when it comes to explosions, it seems. Sean, you are not helping.