What can be done from a twisted pair. Twisted pair excellent cable for speaker systems

twisted pair cable

What types of speaker cables you will not find on the market today. The mass of all kinds of products: copper cables, silver, thin, thick.
In a word, the choice is not easy to make. At the same time, a branded cable is always expensive, because in this case, not only quality, but also a special “marketing chip” is an advantage.
Twisted pair speaker cable can be used as a consumable to create the right cable for the purest sound. How to make an acoustic cable from a twisted pair and much more will be presented in our article.

twisted pair cable

A twisted-pair cable is a wire designed for acoustics or other purposes. This very cable always consists of several pairs of wires, isolated from each other in a special way.
As for the twisting of wires, this is done for a special purpose, in order to increase the cable's noise immunity and reduce electromagnetic vibrations.
There are various types of twisted pair cables (more on that below). In category 5 and higher cables, the pairs are twisted together using various pitches to prevent interference that can be associated with the periodic approach of the conductors.

How to make high quality wire yourself using twisted pair cable

The minimum investment of money (a good one is always very expensive, remember this!) And competently following the instructions - that's all you need.
As a result, we get the right speaker cable, which will give excellent sound:

We take an ordinary twisted pair cable.
We remove the main insulation and we have 8 thin wires in front of us.

Note. The wires must be copper and not any other material. At the same time, it is desirable that copper be pure, without any special impurities.

We remove the insulation from each wire, but we do it very carefully.
Now you need to get the GOI paste (yes, yes, the same one that is used for finishing sharpening knives).
We arm ourselves with a soft cloth, apply a little paste on it and clean the copper wire. It is necessary to ensure that the wire becomes mirror-clean and very smooth.

Note. It is advisable to carry out this work in special gloves made of fabric in order to avoid oxidation of copper.
Sterility in this case is the basis of a positive result. Otherwise, if it (sterility) is not ensured, the whole thing may go down the drain.

After each of the wires is cleaned to a shine, you need to take an ordinary medical bandage, always sterile.
We connect all the wires back and wrap them with a bandage, and on top with electrical tape.

What does it give

Note. You do not need to have seven spans in your forehead to know that the cleaner and more specular the wire, the better the HF and MF will pass through it. In other words, these highest and middle frequencies in the car interior will be clean and without artificial embellishments.

It is worth remembering that wrapping copper wires with a bandage should be due to the fact that this improves insulation. The fact is that cotton insulation has everything necessary for the rapid movement of current.
Plain paper has the same properties, which can also be used instead of a bandage. As for the surface tape, which is put on top of the bandage, it only plays the role of protection, preventing the fabric from fraying over time.
Such wires always give a clear and high-quality sound. Fast bass, and high and mid frequencies are just super: not artificial and synthetic, as before, but even and clear.

What is a finished twisted pair speaker cable

If there is no time to make the cable yourself, then let's look at the twisted-pair speaker cable itself, which is sold ready-made on the market.
Note that there are many varieties. Let's dwell on the most common.

Note. It depends on how the cable conductors are intertwined with each other, in what configuration they are located, what shield they are protected by, etc. and determines how good the cable is and corresponds to the end result - to provide good sound.

Cable types:

UTP - this type of twisted pair cable does not have a shield. This cable is also called unshielded twisted pair.

FTP or F/UTP is a twisted pair cable with an overall foil shield. This type of cable is also called a shielded pair, although in general this is not entirely true.
The screen in such cables is present, but in the simplest sense of the word.

SF / UTP - again, unshielded twisted pair with a double braid. Often such a cable is referred to as F2TP or F2 / UTP.
STP is a shielded twisted pair cable, where each wire uses its own independent shield. In addition, there is also a mesh on such cables.
S / FTP or SFTP is already foil and shielded twisted pair. Each pair in this is in a special braid and has an external copper screen.

Category of twisted pair cable

In addition to types, twisted pair cables are further divided into categories. They are numbered from 1 to 7 and the higher the category, the more efficient the frequency range passed by the cable.
In cable categories above 5th, there are more pairs of wires and naturally turns per unit length.

Note. For acoustic purposes, only cables of category 5 and above are used.

Stranded and solid twisted pair cable

In addition, a twisted-pair cable can be stranded or single-core:

If the cable is single-core, then in no case should it be subjected to frequent bending. The conductors in such cables break easily. Usually it is not used for acoustic purposes.
Stranded cable, which consists of a bundle of thin copper wires, is much better able to withstand constant bending and twisting. The braid of this cable is made of polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene.
Most modern multi-core cable sheaths are also coated with chalk, which increases the fragility of the sheath. This is necessary so that the cable can be easily cut at the incision site.

Above, information was presented regarding twisted-pair cable for acoustics. Laying such a cable in the car with your own hands to a subwoofer or car radio (see) is carried out strictly according to the instructions, which can be easily found on the net.
The study of photo and video materials will not hurt either. The price of a twisted pair speaker cable varies and it all depends on the characteristics, materials and much more, as described above.

Good afternoon lovers of good sound! Which just do not sell wires in the markets and in specialized stores. The counters of audio salons are littered with all sorts of acoustic wires of different brands, diameters and lengths.

Have you ever thought about why branded, acoustic wire is so very expensive? Everything is very simple. The fact is that this speaker cable has already included a fairly large advertisement "marketing chips" and only a relatively small percentage of technologies!

So you want good sound for very, very little money? If yes, then this article is for you!

If you cook it correctly, then we will get an excellent sound + a minimum investment of our money.

So, let's begin, take a twisted pair, remove the most important insulation, then we get eight thin wires. The main thing is to make sure they copper, not iron. Yes, there are those. Now carefully remove the insulation from these "small wires". Once this isolation is removed, we take such a green "GOI paste" and a soft rag and clean the copper wire. The most important condition so that the wiring is mirror-like and very smooth. These works are best done in special fabric gloves. Otherwise there will be copper oxide. And all your work will then go down the drain. It is necessary to ensure sterility, because you make the wire with your own hands.

Once the copper wiring is cleaned and polished to a mirror-crystal finish. We take a simple medical bandage (sterile) and then connect all your wires together and wrap it with a bandage, and then wrap it with electrical tape.

However, I explain why it is necessary to clean and polish these twisted-pair copper wires to a shine and wrap the wire with a simple bandage.

It's simple: treble and midrange go on top of this copper and the cleaner, mirror and smoother these wiring, the better and without artificial embellishments we get medium and high frequencies.

Winding copper wires is necessary in order to improve insulation, since the cotton insulation has everything you need to move the current very quickly. (However, you can take paper).

By the way, electrical tape is a simple external insulation so that the bandage does not fray at all over time. .

Good luck with all the combinations!

I hope this explanation helped. Please leave comments below so I can get back to you. Don't be afraid to join me

Consider the method of self-manufacturing of an acoustic cable oriented to use as part of a high-class sound reproducing path. A cable made according to the method below may well save you from the need to purchase high-quality and, accordingly, expensive industrial-made cables. This cable was developed in accordance with the numerous requests of enthusiasts who would like to have an acoustic cable as part of their path, allowing them to fully appreciate the advantages of using an interconnect cable, the manufacture of which is described on the pages of this site. Subject to the recommendations of this methodology, the cable made by you is comparable to its industrial-made counterparts that cost $30-40 per meter and more.

Materials and tools

First you need to prepare and take care of the availability of materials and equipment necessary to solve our problem. We will need:

wire cutters;
pliers;
sharp knife;
gas lighter;
industrial hair dryer or gas stove;
heat-shrinkable tube 6mm in two colors;
spool of strong thread;
utp / stp / ftp category 5e cable (more on this below).

Selection of conductor material

For the manufacture of an acoustic cable, we need high-quality copper monocores with a diameter of 0.5 mm in polyethylene insulation, twisted into a twisted pair. This type of conductor is traditionally used in utp / stp / ftp category 5e cables (twisted pair category 5e 'unshielded or shielded'). This cable is used for the installation and laying of cable connections of computer local area networks and, accordingly, is widely available in almost any company of the corresponding profile. The only pitfall in choosing the cable from which we will extract the twisted pair we need is the prevailing supply on the market of cables manufactured in the Asian region. These cables are usually made using recycled copper and are not suitable for our purposes. Practice shows that copper of high quality and purity is mainly used by manufacturers that have proven themselves in this market, mainly from Europe, the USA, and Australia. In the course of numerous experiments, from the samples of cables available to me produced in the indicated countries, models or types of cables from various manufacturers were selected, the use of which is possible in the context of this article. I will provide this list. The cables in it are arranged in descending order of the “sound quality” of the speaker cables made from them:

all cables are utp/stp cat. 5e manufactured by Draka NK Cables (Finland);

all cables are utp/stp cat. 5e manufactured by Belden;

all cables are utp/stp/ftp cat. 5e manufactured by R&M (Reichle & De-Massari AG, Switzerland);

all cables are utp/stp cat. 5e manufactured by LAPP Kabel (Germany);

utp/stp cables cat. 5e manufactured by BICC Brand-REX (UK), utp/stp cat. 5e manufactured by Helukabel (Germany); utp/stp cat. 5e only European production Alcatel (France), utp/stp cat. 5e is not made in China by Lucent (USA).

Required cable length

It takes 5 pieces of utp / stp / ftp cat cable to make 1m of speaker cable. 5e 1.18m long. Those. for the manufacture of 1m speaker cable to connect two speakers, you need 5 * 1.18 * 2 = 11.8 meters of twisted pair. Simply put, the total amount of twisted pair required to connect a stereo pair of speakers is determined by the formula L = 11.8 * Lak, where Lak is the length of the speaker cable to connect one speaker.

Manufacturing procedure

The first thing we do is cut the utp cat cable. 5e into 10 segments of equal length. Using a sharp knife, cut the outer sheath of the cable and remove it. In the case of a stp or ftp cable, a layer of metallized film is removed that wraps the twisted pair conductors. Inside the cable there are 8 pairs of twisted conductors, i.e. 4 twisted pairs. Of these, 2 pairs have one strand of conductors (blue and green), and 2 have another (orange and brown). For the manufacture of an acoustic cable for connecting one speaker, we take 5 twisted pairs of blue and brown colors and five twisted pairs of green and orange colors. The cable for connecting the corresponding terminals of the speaker and the amplifier is made in the form of two independent cables. Let's agree that at the manufacturing stage, blue-brown twisted pairs are intended for connecting the "-" terminals, and green-orange pairs for connecting the "+" terminals.

Fundamental moment. When extracting all twisted pairs from cables and sorting them by colors, it is necessary in no case to confuse their mutual orientation “beginning-end”. We agree to consider the beginning of the twisted pair, its side located on the left, if you look at the initial position of the twisted pairs before removing them from the utp cat cable. 5e, while utp cat. 5e is oriented according to the inscription on the cable sheath (the beginning of the inscription is the beginning of the cable).

Let's start making a cable for connecting the "-" terminals. To do this, we take 5 pairs of blue and brown colors and from the side, which we consider the beginning of the cable, we combine into a bundle. We align the ends of the twisted pairs and, at a distance of 8 cm from the beginning of the cable, we tightly tie them with several turns of a thick thread. We unwind the conductors in twisted pairs from the beginning of the cable to the place where they are bundled with a thread. Align each conductor. Further, all conductors are tightly and evenly twisted along the length clockwise, as viewed from the beginning of the cable. On the twisted conductors, a piece of heat-shrinkable tube 3 cm long is put on and pushed close to their twist with a thread. Next, the thermotube shrinks, after which the thread is removed as unnecessary. For each previously laid down cable bundle, we repeat this operation. On all four blanks, pieces of a heat-shrinkable tube of the same color (for example, blue) are installed, in the future we will be able to determine the direction of the cable by the color of these tubes. After that, we have 4 blanks, from which we will weave an acoustic cable.

Consider directly the process of weaving conductors in an acoustic cable. To begin with, let's take one of the blanks and distribute the conductors in it in such a way that the conductors of different colors alternate. This is clearly seen in the pictures demonstrating the cable weaving procedure.

Since it is rather difficult to verbally describe cable weaving in an accessible and understandable form, I will demonstrate it with a sequence of photographs that give a comprehensive idea of all stages of this process. For simplicity, the photographs show an example of weaving using 6 twisted pairs, in our case there are 10 of them.

The braiding of the cable continues until the length of the shortest non-braided cable is 8 cm. At this weaving stops. The remaining unwoven twisted pairs are collected in a bundle and tightly tied with a thread. Next, we untwist the conductors in twisted pairs from the end of the cable to the place where they are bundled with a thread. Align each conductor. We twist all conductors tightly and evenly along the length clockwise, as viewed from the end of the cable. On the twisted conductors, a piece of heat-shrinkable tube 3 cm long is put on and pushed close to their twist with a thread. Next, the thermotube shrinks, after which the thread is removed as unnecessary. At the “end” of the braided cable, a piece of heat shrink tubing is installed in a color different from the tube at the beginning of the “cable” (for example, black). Next, cut off the excess length of individual conductors, aligning them with the shortest one.

Repeat this procedure for the remaining 3 blanks.

Now on each of their cables it remains to strip the conductors from insulation. The length of the surface stripped of insulation is determined by the way the cable is connected to the speaker and amplifier terminals, as well as the need or lack of it in the installation of bananas / spades. In any case, it is necessary to twist the bare copper conductors evenly along the length very tightly (but carefully) together, first with the help of hands, and then with the help of pliers. I categorically do not advise you to use this twist in the future to solder, including when installing bananas and blades on the cable.

That's actually all. But no less important procedure remained, namely the direct connection of the manufactured speaker cables to the speaker and amplifier.

Cable connection

The main thing for the sound quality of the path using our cables is their mutual orientation, or rather, the observance of the direction of connecting the cable to the corresponding terminals of the amplifier and speakers.

To do this, a blue-brown cable is used to connect the corresponding “-” terminals of the amplifier and speakers, and the beginning of the cable (blue heat shrink) is connected from the side of the amplifier. A green-orange cable is used to connect the corresponding “+” terminals of the amplifier and speakers, with the end of the cable (black heat shrink) connected to the side of the amplifier. After the connection procedure, you can almost immediately evaluate the result of our work and changes in the sound of the path. This is due to the fact that the speaker cable made by the method described above requires practically no time for running in.

Due to the fact that the best direction of inclusion of the manufactured cable cannot be predicted in advance due to differences in the organization of the technological process of manufacturing cables from different manufacturers utp / stp cat. 5e, it is recommended to check the reverse connection of our cable and choose the best one from the point. To do this, without turning over the cables, it is enough to reconnect the green-orange cables to the corresponding “-” terminals of the amplifier and speakers, and the blue-brown ones to the corresponding “+” terminals of the amplifier and speakers.