Question Thoughts of using cat5 for speaker wire?

[dak125]

Howdy,

I recently bought a home that has a ton of cat5 prewired. I was under the assumption that speaker wire was run to the living room, but I now know it was only run to the rear speakers.

The AV guy suggests we make use of existing cat 5 for front, rear and center channel. The consensus of my googling efforts is that this is less than ideal, but does anyone have real world experiences they can share?

I have nice equipment and I’m worried that cat5 will be crap when it’s all said and done.

Thanks,

 

[IronWing]

You may want to read this article to get an idea of the power handling capability of CAT5.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet#Standard_implementation

The impedance of the cable is listed as 12.5 ohms. The impedance mismatch with a 4, 8, or 16 ohm speaker may cause noise but I don't know if it will be noticeable to the ear.

 

[mindless1]

You could use multiple wires (CAT5 strands) in parallel but it will still limit total power (more acceptable for low volumes).

I'm not so sure there is any impedance mismatch issue and the cable resistance is bound to be the max at what, 100 meters? It's probably around 1 ohm per 10 meters, or less if you parallel multiple strands.