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Hi all, looking for a second- and third- opinion if I might trouble you all.

 

I have Sonos Amps in the comms cabinet, and Sonance ceiling speakers in the bedrooms.  Sadly, these are connected via CAT6 cable (4 cores per channel used - pics below), and not proper speaker cable because we messed up at the planning stage and didn't realise until it was too late.

 

It works absolutely fine with CAT6 cable, but an electrician who came over recently (to help me address cooling of my comms cabinet) said it was really bad and a fire hazard. We should apparently never run the volume over 20%, or the wire will get too hot and melt the thin shielding on the CAT6 cable, creating halogen gas, and burning the house down -- obviously just a worst case scenario, but...

 

I am sure he is right, but he is strongly suggesting we rip the house down and lay proper speaker cable.  This is no small task.

 

I want a second opinion on really just how big a deal this is. I know CAT6 cable isn’t optimal for many reasons (sound quality etc), BUT - do I really need to panic to this extent, or is actually ok?

 

Another electrician I asked said I shouldn’t lose sleep, and while not the best setup, I shouldn’t be afraid of using it. He said it wouldn’t sound as good as it could at higher volumes, but it shouldn’t be a fire hazard, so not to worry.

 

Just wondered if any of the pro’s here might chime in and give me a few more opinions to consider..

 

Cheers,

JK

 

 

The thing is, I would be surprised if anyone on here would say definitively, ‘there is no problem, leave it as it is’.  And even if they did, why would you trust that opinion from someone you don’t know?  How many favourable opinions do you need before you stop losing sleep over it?

Other thoughts - probably stupid but you never know..

  1. Is it really impossible to pull through replacement cables, possibly using the CAT6 cables?
  2. Any way to locate the Amps closer to the speakers each controls, so that you have short runs, and just leave the CAT6 in the walls, disconnected?

Thanks John.  I guess I was just looking for one person to suggest it’s not as big a hazard as the chap makes it out to be. But I see where you’re coming from!

 

Good point about using the existing CAT6 cable to pull through the new speaker cable (until the separate behind a wall somewhere).  But I’m going to explore if that’s possible.  

 

Also like the idea about moving the Amp closer, given they’re not currently plugged into the switch anyway, so this might actually work out perfectly. I could potentially just move them into the ceiling, behind the speakers themselves, and run power off one of the lighting loops.  (Would of course discuss everything with a proper electrician!)

 

Thanks!

Yes, definitely to be discussed with a proper electrician! I hope you find a solution that is not too disruptive. Not sure the lighting circuits would be up to that, but I'm not sn electrician. I was thinking maybe keeping the Amps visible (or hidden) but running speake  cables up through studwork…

Anyway, some ideas to explore. 

There is some information at the links I found below on this subject:

https://www.cmple.com/learn/how-to-use-in-wall-ethernet-as-a-speaker-wire

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/using-cat6-as-speaker-wire.1374744/

https://forums.tomsguide.com/threads/ethernet-wire-as-speaker-wire.414062/

https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/22253-home-made-speaker-cables-from-cat6-cable/

 

 

This has all been super helpful, and given me the peace of mind I was after.  Many thanks @Ken_Griffiths and @John B !

 

/JK

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