[mythtv-users] New house - any advise?

Billy Macdonald billymacdonald at gmail.com
Wed Jan 17 06:13:54 UTC 2007


On 1/16/07, David Brodbeck <gull at gull.us> wrote:
> Chris Ribe wrote:
> > Veering off topic here, but this sound like a really questionable
> > idea.  CAT5 is cheaper than speaker wire because copper is expensive,
> > and CAT5 doesn't contain much copper.   It just isn't designed for a
> > high current application like driving speakers.
>
> It depends on how long the run is.  CAT5 has a resistance of about 3
> ohms per 100 feet -- which means 6 ohms for a pair.  If the run is only
> 50 feet or so, I think it'll work fine.  If it's more than that, the
> loss of volume may get excessive.
>

Remember your physics. Two conductors in parallel will have less
resistance than the lowest resistance of the pair.  Two 3ohm wires in
parallel will have a resistance of 1.5ohms.

Unless I'm misunderstanding what was being suggested about pairing the wires.

I'm not sure if I'm advocating using cat5 or not.  Personally I would
probably use speaker wire myself unless it's a low wattage second zone
type speaker.

Billy


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