RE: Speakers over cat 5 - not hi-fi

["Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi David,

For just background level listening CAT5 will be OK as you will be sending
very little power down the cable.

There are a couple of ways you could wire it up.

1. Just use two of the pairs. Blue for Left and Brown for right. That way
you avoid the Orange and Green pairs which are the ones used for Ethernet
so
eliminate the risk of damaging the Laptop if plugged in accidently.

2. Use all 4 pairs but wired as follows

BLUE/White + WHITE/Blue  LEFT +
ORANGE/White + WHITE/Orange LEFT -
GREEN/White + WHITE/Green RIGHT -
BROWN/White + WHITE/Brown RIGHT +

The reason for specifying the Orange and Green pairs for the negative is
that most amplifiers (unless they are bridged) have the negative side of
the
speaker connected to ground so voltage only appears on the posiive
terminals. Again that will minimise the risk to your laptop should you
accidently plug it into the wrong socket although unless you were driving
the amp hard you would be unlikely to cauise any damage anyway.

Hope that helps


Keith

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Chapman [mailto:david@xxxxxxx]
>
> AutomatedHome UK Discussion

> Anyone into hi-fi look away now....
>
> House / office is floodwired cat5. PC audio output works well to
> a pair of amplied sony speakers using cable that is not much
> thicker than cotton (well it's about 2mm diameter and carries
> plus and minus, left and right).
>
> So... I'm sure I could cut it and add a pair of cat5 plugs and
> use the 4 pairs to run the stereo speakers. Of course I can't
> send much power down but the cross section of copper will be much
> more than the existing cable. I guess the killer is distance but
> shouldn't need to go more than about 20 metres. Result would be a
> very useful pair of speakers I can carry around and plug into the
> wall in the room I'm working.
>
> Obviously need to ensure I don't plug a laptop into same socket
> but other than that can't see any great problems in doing this ?
>
>