Cable Asylum: REVIEW: DIY by Chris VenHaus Cat5 Speaker Cable Cable by Chris Lepine

Well, after a couple days of finger breaking labour, my wire is finally done. I ended up with 2 five-foot lengths of this stuff, and I am in no way disappointed!

I haven't allowed them to break in yet, but instantly I noticed the difference between it and my 12 AWG OFC (oxygen free copper, just some cheap stuff I got for $1 / foot at SoundSurround in Calgary, Alberta Canada). The mid-bass was tighter and far more defined. The highs were sharp, but I've found them to be somewhat bright for my receiver/speaker combination. I'm hoping that this might improve over time as my speakers and wire achieve some sort of equilibrium.

Method: I picked up 200 feet of CAT5 Patch cable at Radio Shack. Here's where my question is... is "stranded" twister pair any better/worse than "solid" twisted pair? The stuff I bought was stranded because it was patch cable (far easier to work with your fingers; more flexible). I followed the instructions down to each detail and found that it took me a lot less time than anticipated, after cutting the wire to 7' lengths, about 10 hours. Stripping the ends was more difficult due to the fact that the strands were very sensitive to being sheared off by the wire strippers. Took me a few tries before I managed to not cut off wire and insulation in the same stroke :)

I twisted the ends together and attempted to fit the tapered part into the posts in my receiver, and after some work, I managed to nearly fit the monstrousity inside. I later decided to tape the ends with eletrical tape just to make things a little cleaner. Eventually I'll pick up some Heat Shrink to make it look nice and proper. The speakers had spring clips, and I barely got the wires inside.
I tested them with a wide variety of music, and instantly all the highs and mids came out in full force. The lows were there, but I noticed the highs seemed to overpower them in some areas.. I'm going to give them a more serious listen after a good week of breaking in.

I will not say that these wires made the difference between having a good system and a truly "great" system, but I do think that it made enough difference in my case to justify the time and work that went into it. I believe I will notice more differences after the break-in period, and maybe after I can afford a better receiver/speaker combo.

REVIEW: DIY by Chris VenHaus Cat5 Speaker Cable Cable Review by Chris Lepine at Audio Asylum