This is my old project, just re-uploaded again from my old tripod account to my blog 🙂

Basically, after a long discussion with my colleagues at “auvi” mailing-list, especially Mr. Paul Yahya, I decided to try the DIY cable from CAT or LAN cable.

The cables used was:

  • Avaya Cable CAT5/24 AWG (for speaker cable)
  • Belden Cable CAT6/23 AWG (for interconnect cable)

I used my PC as main source. As you can see from the picture above, I was using ESI Juli@ as my main source.

Another photo shows my back panel. I used cheap gold plated RCA with Belden CAT6 as Interconnect.


Photo above shows my speaker. At that time, I used multimedia speaker from Jazz Speakers.The cable was Avaya CAT5, 54 cables twisted for single channel.

Zoomed version of my twisted speaker cable. Made from 27 pairs Avaya CAT5 cable (54 cables for mono) and 54 pairs (108 cables for stereo channel). I spent over 10 hours to braid this cable.


Photo above shows the Belden CAT6 interconnect with cheap gold plated RCA jacks.


Zoomed version of the interconnect. Made from 2 pairs Belden CAT6 (4 cables for mono) and 4 pairs (8 cables for stereo).


I fired up my RMAA to compare between the cheap RCA and my Belden CAT6. Not so much different to be honest.


RMAA on the graph. Simply to say, the software can’t hear the different between my old RCA cable and the CAT6.

Conclusion:
The improvements based on my experience:

  • More detail. The separation increases quite significant. I can hear some instrument that I haven’t heard before (no surprise because my old cable is too cheap, $0.1-$0.2 for an interconnect, what do you expect?)
  • Better stereo imaging, a little bit wider and deeper.
  • Lighter sound… too light for my taste, not enough “body” and “weight”.
  • Overall it’s better than standard, but still below my expectation.