Speaker wires question

KyleYankan · 04-14-2005, 11:13 PM

Hi everyone. I have a quick question. As we all know running wires is a pain in the arse. My teacher happens to have like 10 EXTRA spools of cat5e cable. ..... Cat5e much easier to run than say ... 8 speaker cables..... Will it work though? Not a high-output system, but I like some quality.

Here's my problem (specifically)

I want to wire an puter to an amp, and then have a dual-fed line to the speakers.

Diagram:

Puter--Amp---- |
HU-------------| RELAY TO CHOOSE SOURCE | ===== speakers

I want to run the 8 (or 5 if i choose common ground) wires from my HU to my Ccarputer, then from my Carputer's relay control system to my speaker wires by the HU. I was thinking of just making the Realy system hide behind the HU, but not enough space. So, my questio nreally is - what kind of losses can I expect from cat5e? Will it work? If I dual wire up? IE orange and striped orange acting as one wire?

Also, what are the losses/benefits of a common speaker ground?

sivart321 · 04-14-2005, 11:25 PM

you are wanting to run power to the speakers through cat5 cable?

If so, please do not. It is not nearly large enough and you will most likely melt the insulation on the wire causing who knows how much damage. Very dangerous. Doubleing it or tripleing it won't work either. cat5 is something like 22 guage or smaller, even with 10 watts rms at 12v you are running more current through the wire than is safe at the distances common in car audio stuff. Be safe and use regular speaker cable 18guage or larger wire (depending on the size speakers and power of your amp).

KyleYankan · 04-14-2005, 11:35 PM

OK - Just wanted to make sure. Do you know anything about the losses of a common speaker ground?

sivart321 · 04-14-2005, 11:42 PM

As far as I know it is not possible? With a standard headunit or amp, you cannot easily do it.

Someone correct me if I am wrong. Maybe explain for my benefit too?

mbuchman · 04-14-2005, 11:55 PM

You can either do it wrong for cheaper the first time and then have to redo it, or do it right the first time and save the hassle.

Just get something like this if you really dont want to have to run multiple lines
http://knukonceptz.com/productDetail...odID=KAR124BLS
But I mean, are you even using multiple speakers up front? Unless you are doing a fancy comp set, I really dont see why regular speaker wire wouldnt work.

To be honest, unless you are using an amp, some of this would work, and is cheap
http://knukonceptz.com/productDetail.cfm?prodID=KLE16BL

Matt

WhiteRabbit · 04-15-2005, 12:26 AM

you can use cat5 for RCA cabling (yes, in a car, the noise floor renders its use just fine), but I dont think anything other than line signal will work.

KyleYankan · 04-15-2005, 03:49 PM

I just have to fuish wires through my dash - without ripping it up, so running multiple wires is a pain in the arse. OK - I'll be attemping this tommororw! (sat 16th)

Defiler · 04-15-2005, 04:01 PM

I've used CAT5 for running long distance leads for LEDs before with no issues. Prolly not the best for speakers though.

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