Cat 5 braided & AR-3's

[Strawman]

So far, my Cat 5 cable wires consist of the solids and stripes twisted together and soldered together. I'm lazy, and cheap, and it's free. I thought about that whole twisting thing, but if I got caught, I would have to learn how to braid my wife's hair.

 

[cableguy2]

Cat 5

I am a Systems Manager and use CAT 5 all the time for network connections, and I probably wouldn't take the time to strip and braid it. There are two types of this wire, shielded and unshielded, and I was wondering if anybody had left the wire in the wrapper using the shielded variety.

I was also wondering if anybody had tried leaving the RJ-45 connectors on the wire, and just getting a punch down adapter, and just running short wires from that to the terminals.

The wires are twisted in pairs like this:

White Orange and Orange
White Green and Blue
White Blue and Green
White Brown and Brown

So if you came out of the adaptor, you would just connect the White Orange and orange, and White Green and Blue for the positve terminal, and use the rest for the negative.

That would save a lot of twisting, not sure what the adapter would do to the sound. :scratch2:

 

[ozmoid]

A test would be to buy some of the 14 gauge wire you were previously using.Braid some(new)wire of the 14 gauge which you were previously using and leave some of the new 14 gauge as it was used previously.Purchase some Cat 5 but to leave it unbraided.See whether it's

The newness of the wire or

The braiding

Or forget about my suggestion,settle-back and enjoy your system.

Just a thought.:scratch2:

Hello, Theophile! My understanding is that the twisted pairs offer high RF rejection, reducing noise in the line. Braiding does something else, (see Piece-it-Pete's link in an earlier post in this thread).

I am a Systems Manager and use CAT 5 all the time for network connections, and I probably wouldn't take the time to strip and braid it. There are two types of this wire, shielded and unshielded, and I was wondering if anybody had left the wire in the wrapper using the shielded variety.

I'm not using the shielded (almost $1 per foot!), but I have a long run (over 25') that I left in the wrapper. Used two pairs for pos, two for neg, one full run of wire to each speaker. Very similar results to the braided version, 100x less work. BUT, the braided version looks and feels really cool Using the higher wire count in a 3-braid does give you a bigger gauge equivalent, too.

I also have a pair of speakers hooked up at work with a single twisted pair (loose, out of the wrapper) for each terminal. Same basic result - cleaner signal. Leads me to believe that the RF rejection is the primary improvement cat-5 offers. Whatever it is, at 18 cents a foot I'll be replacing all my zip cord.

 

[dmax99]

I've been using the shielded cat V all 8 wires left in the jacket,going to one terminal.It has been an improvement to the Rat Shack 16 g. I was using.

 

[Njord Noatun]

I've been using the shielded cat V all 8 wires left in the jacket,going to one terminal.

Just to make sure I understand you right: So you have two CAT-5's going to each speaker - i.e., four going out of your amp?

Rgds,

 

[dmax99]

Yes, That's right.It looks to be about 16g thickness when its all twisted together....

 

[FoolFace]

The CAT5 is also nice, and easy, to make interconnects.

 

[mcdmgb]

delete

 

[Bauhausler]

I realize you have AR-3's and NOT 3a's. Nevertheless, the design philosophy was consistent. From the attached it's clear that to get a "flat frequency response", both pots should be set to max with a slight treble increase.

Now, even if you comply with the recommended settings, you might still be getting somewhat “dull” mids and highs. The problem is the pot wipers. After close to 40 years they are corroded and add resistance where none was ever intended.

One of the practical, “least cost” solutions is to:

1. eliminate the tweeter pot entirely from the xover circuit
2. solder the wiper lead on the mid pot to the “top of the pot”


These will get you to a flat response and eliminate the pot wiper problem. Even if you completely repair the pots, they will immediately begin corroding again. The high current draw, coupled with dissimilar metals and heat just accelerates the corrosion process.

Hope this helps ….

Regards,
Jerry

This is swerving off topic, but I'd like to add something here. I have owned and enjoyed several pairs of AR3 and 3a speakers. I found in rebuilding them that the tweeters and midranges differed significantly in DCR and sensitivity. I have heard this from other people as well. This is said to be due to ageing of the materials, and to large variations in the original production materials and practices. If the pots are eliminated, unbalanced mids and treble from side to side could result due to these variations. In practice, I found that the 'correct' setting for the pots was not necessarily the same on both speakers. The pots compensate for different driver levels.
There are a couple of solutions:
1) clean the pots. They are a bear to get out, but are designed to be disassembled and cleaned. I think I have a pic of one apart around here. I use a glass fiber brush from RatShak and carefully scrub all of the surfaces clean. Then I hit the surfaces with Caig D5. Make sure there is enough wiper contact and bend the wiper if necessary. I have done this to a number of AR pots and never had the intermittent problem come back. It's a hassle tha twill have you swearing at AR and all speakers ever made, but it's pretty close to a permanent solution.
Note that it's a pretty beefy pot and is more than adequate for the intended power levels. These are relatively power hungry speakers, yet the drivers do not have high power handling capacity. You would exceed the capacity of the drivers before you caused problems in the pots. I have several cooked AR tweets, and the pots that came out of the speakers were fine.
2) If you're superfussy, determine experimentally the correct pot setting for each driver and replace the pot with fixed noninductive resistors. That leaves you with no contact surfaces to corrode in the future. As an added bonus, removing 4 more adjustments to worry about the settings of will lower your blood pressure and make you happier.

BTW, if you haven't yet I strongly recommend recapping the speakers. It made a huge difference in mine. They went from sounding old and worn out to sparkly and fresh. Use NP electrolytics on the woofer parallel caps (150uf??) and anything but electrolytics on the tweeters and mids.

I have a pair of nice AR3a cabs here that I just took the remaining drivers out of. I keep thinking they'll make good sub cabs and I keep them around because they look so fine.

 

[Bauhausler]

Pic of AR pot guts