The smaller gage wire will handle the current. It will just start to heat up, the resistance (i.e. losses) will go up and eventually, if the current keeps increasing, it will burn up. This is the wire's fusing current.

The fusing current for 18 gage wire is about 83 amps. So you don't have to worry about buring up the wire.

The thicker wire just means that more of the power you paid for in your amp makes it to the speakers instead of being turned to heat in your wiring.

Cool POV on this EEman, best explanation and advantage on large gauge wire yet.

Mine equals something like 9.2 gauge or something...and low inductance is the advantage of using cat5, but I am sure flat earth believers will say that is snake oil too.

Here are my DIY cat5 cables:

[img]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c326/westfaliamama/IMG_1404.jpg?t=1300005879[/img]


[img]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c326/westfaliamama/IMG_1400.jpg?t=1300006035[/img]

[img]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c326/westfaliamama/IMG_1405.jpg?t=1300005823[/img]

[img]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c326/westfaliamama/IMG_1401.jpg?t=1300005966[/img]

How do you terminate the CAT5 cable to your equipment? Do you use a spade lug of some sort or a banana plug? Do you solder the ends or just leave them bare? What advantage does CAT5 cable provide over strans=ded lamp cord?

I use spades w/ a mechanical(crimped) connection, the advantage is 1) it creates a large gauge cable which has multiple advantages(some explained here earlier by EEman). It is known that electrons flow on the outer surface of a conductor, so the more surface area you can provide, the lower the resistance to the electron flow you will have...Lower impedence, and 2) it is a low inductance self-shielded path as is the point of cat5. 3) its cheap as hell to try this on your own and compare for your own ears as opposed to so many other audio upgrades.

So to answer your question, neither of the first 2 advantages exist with lampcord since your using smaller gauge wire with no low impedance or inductance advantages inherent.

Thanks man. Most people just tell me I have a weird point of view

What you're talking about is called skin effect and there is much debate about whether it's really a problem in the audio range. 12 AWG reportedly starts experiencing skin effect a little above 4000 Hz. 24 AWG (CAT5e) is around 68 KHz. Does this make an audible difference? I don't know.

What you've done by taking multiple strands of CAT5e and twisitng them together is created Litz Wire which is a high end wire for minimizing skin effect.

Do you actually hear a big difference with your cables?

First let me say I read audio gear reviews all the time and generally think the person writing it is full of shit, so I say this with reservation knowing others will think the same of me, but....

Yes these were a big change tonally. I actually felt like my imaging got better with these cables, the speakers just seemed to disappear into the room or gain a surrounding quality...I also felt that the highs were a bit less strident, but I actually noticed that happen with the silver cables the very first time I use them. I had a set of silver 12awg cables and a set of 14awg copper before and I was very surprised in the improvement. I am not one to fall for psycho-acoustic improvements, and I even had a couple friends and my wife listen and try some blind testing too, all who agreed it was an improvement.

Like I said this is a cheap DIY thing, unlike others who hear the difference they want to hear because so much of their money went into the cables.

So the spade is just crimped on? Any way to solder it without destroying the wire? What size spade lug do you use? I would probably have to go with banana plugs or something similar for my Maggies but would prefer bare wire.

Yes unfortunately, I prefer bare wire too but that many semi-stiff loose ends did not cooperate one bit. I looked into the advantages and disadvantages of soldered vs crimped, and decided to crimp them since there wasnt any. I could solder them I suppose but havent needed too so far, so I havent. Do you think I need too?

The techflex was cheap and made them look much better.

EEMAN and Jimna:

I am more than a little confused about the claims of a skin effect and surface area on 12 gauge wire. I could understand that claim if one were discussing a solid core 12 gauge wire. But most 12 gauge speaker wire is made from dozens, if not hundreds, of smaller strands that I believe have a larger total surface area than the cat5e cable does.

I would think the same thing about lamp cord as 73bruin. Not sure what CAT5 cable gets me but it is an intriguing idea to DIY. The skin effect of wire has always seemed to be appiled to lightly loaded wire.