Are DIY, CAT5 cables really that good?

I guess it all depends on your system. They do seem to be a little more amp dependent. I made a bi-wire set and I love 'em. But, like everything else in audio, if it doesn't sound good to you, it ain't good.

How tightly do you braid your pairs? As tight as possible, or more of a loose braid?

Hey I am seriously considering making a set of CAT 5 cables.......is it woth the time and effort? Will these cables be better than my standard off the spool monster cable wire? Is there an advatage to using CRYOed wire? If I do not use the CAT 5 I am planing on either Audioquest or Transparent..........any thoughts????

P.S. I am running ROTEL's RSX-1067 along with the RDV-1040 and my speakers are Kenwoods(main) BOSE(center)sucks... and sony(rear)........I am planing to upgrade to ALL B&W 804N,HTM2, and thinking using the 805N for the rears????
I just started into this high end stuff any help would be great thanks, Joe

CAT5's, like any other cable, need a good amount of burn-in. It sounds like you've had some time with them, so that's probably mostly accomplished already.

From my experience there is a smearing of the sound with CAT5's. There are several other fairly easy to build speaker cables that are inexpensive relative to the commercial one's.

Look into Jon Risch's 89259 cross connect. It far surpassed the CAT5 in my system. Go to AudioAsylum.com and look in the FAQ section for the link.

Enjoy,
Bob

About how many hours of break-in do you think the CAT5 cables need before they realize their full potential?

Has anyone ever used Belden Data Twist 350 1701A CAT 5 cable as speaker wire and care to share their thoughts?

Thanks

For what it's worth, I found this on the Stager Silver Solids website (Silversolids.com) in their "Blog" section.

Speaker Cables
Jung and Marsh stated that their tests showed that the use of multiple thin gauge solid core wires in parallel was the best way to go. This offered low capacitance with no phase or skin effect problems in or directly above the audible range. When asked, "What is the real thing about using silver in audio chain?" Mark Levinson replied, "Silver is the best conductor of electricity. Laws of physics. But copper is more practical for speaker cables."
For a speaker cable, using just one pair of 23 ga. conductors results in a noticeably lean tonal balance but grouping multiple light-gauge wire gives you an even tonal balance without diminishing the desirable high-frequency performance advantages of thin gauge wires. The most cost effective way of achieving this is using plenum type CAT6 Ethernet cable with eight pure copper 23 gauge solid wires and Teflon dielectric in multiple pairs. Uncompromising high-end caliber performance at a bargain price.
The illustration below shows one side: