Ethernet Lead

Our house cleaner inevitably pulls the NACA5 out from my right speaker. I will continue to wish for Naim speaker cable that is not so stiff.

She doesn't move the speakers, which is good.  And I have a bit of tape on the floor, in case they do get moved.

Our cleaning lady was somewhat miffed when I had put a post-it on the newly set up stand mount speakers saying 'please don't touch'. Now she cleans well around them, leaving me to do the rest. So much for the practical issues of hifi!

We have a rule in this house - after my one of my (ex) 300 PS burndy cables was tidied up and tucked back behind the rack out of the way - i now clean the lounge. Saves any tears 

James

Simon - As a doctor, I can confidently say you're officially nuts.

Well imust be knackered than, i have hundreds of meters of ethernet leads running around the house 'near to things'

Thank god i am deaf/not deluded.

Hi Noogle, thanks for the prognosis :-)

But on a serious note, on a revealing system it just shows the importance of cable dressing. It could be that my 5e cable isn't particularly well wound and leaks. (and of course as a network Engineer this is clearly understood and I have been examined on this previously with formal engineering accreditations - leakage  from UTP imperfections creating RF field strength (cross talk) in neighbouring cables and wireless receivers - but I  didn't want to get technical on this thread as it seems to unnerve some on here who are not accredited engineers ;-) )

BTW this should be one of the benefits of Cat 7 and Cat 6e cable as this is better mitigated from a design perspective, I have yet to personally try it at home.

Hi Simon -

So if you did move up to Cat 6e or 7, would it require any other changes, say a new switch?

If this does make a difference, I would be up for replacing my Cat 5 UTP cable.   it would only take me an hour or two to snake it from my NDX to the switch in my "data closet".  It's about  30' as the crow flies, but I need to use a 50' cable in order to account for all the twists and turns in between the two locations.

Thanks!

Hook

Hi Hook,

The sockets for cat. 5, cat. 6(e) and cat. 7 are identical in shapes and sizes.  Accordingly, they should be fully compatible with each other. 

In theory, cat. 6(e) and cat. 7 are supposed to be "better" as they benefited from better shielding.  Some of the sockets for cat. 6(e) and cat. 7 are fitted with sturdy metal casing - at least more premium looking.

I bought a cat. 7 (one metre with metal casing for the socket) for US$25.  The cat. 6(e) equivalent will be about one-third of that.  The choice is obviously yours.

Hi, Simon,

My cable store guy told me it is relatively hard to make a DIY CAT6 cable to spec due to more particular termination requirements.  How can I be sure my cables meet the spec?

The online guide I Googled dosn't indicate anything special to do, other than preserve twists as much as possible.

Thank you.

Nick

Hi Simon,

No problem at all with the engineering side of the situation here, so I'm interested too.

From various discussions in the Forum, I'm still confused with the benefits of shielded network cables because there seems to be two sides of the coin from a sound quality perspective (agreed that Ethernet bandwith is not a problem for audio streaming): protection from RFI on one hand, which can be a good thing apparently, and earthing of the shield on the other hand, which can be detrimental (if I got that correctly).

Don't have enough revealing gear to try that myself at the moment (and I'm a sooo lazy...), so looking forward to your experiments. 

And I jump on the occasion to thank you for all the very good, educated, and interesting posts. It's a pleasure to learn new things almost every day. Not forgetting all the other very knowledgeable and smart people here of course (the likes of AllenB, AMA, aysil, DB, Hook, Guy, Patrick, and all the others who are doing the groundwork on streaming audio.) I'm from a scientific background too -- albeit not engineering -- and I like to have an idea of what's going on underneath. Not afraid of not buying into it if I can't hear a difference though.

Maurice

PS: @Hook,

Beware that the stiff screening of S/FTP cable like Cat7 is a real PITA if you have lots of short turns. And not sure that too much bending is very good for the cable.

Cat7, the NACA5 of the Ethernet cables (TM).

Hi Hook, Nick and Maurice.

Firstly as said your exisitng switches should be fine.

As far as DIY Cat 6, i know its important not to unravel the wire more than absolutely minimum, also the shield/drain wire needs addressing. It might be easier to purchase a Cat6e patch lead unless you have the right jig. However I found this video here http://www.vpi.us/video/terminate-6a-plg-sh-clp.html

As far as the shielding i understand it is best to sink the shield at the switch end. So it might be worth checking the connectors on the switch can support shielded RJ45 so they don't remain floating. I don't believe my switches ground shielded RJ45 so they would float.

 Guys it's Cat 5E, but Cat 6A. Not 6E. Just so you don't look silly to the IT people at the shop. 

 Also, don't DIY a 5m cable. Buy a ready-made tested and certified Cat 6A patch of any required length. The price is insignificant compared to the power of the force.... Sorry, men't your other gear . 

P.S. Check the switch. One side of the cable SHOULD have the shield float, and the other should ground it. Usually it's grounded on the patch panel, but most of us don't have one at home. 

Your choices are Cat 6, 6e (enhanced) and 6a (augmented).  6e is produced to exceed the specs of Cat 6 but not Cat 6 augmented. From memoray it's only 6 and 6augmented thatI are defined by IEEE,but manufacturers exceed the standard 6 standard and call it 6e.

The relevent check for this thread is to confirm whether its shielded or not.

 Sorry for being incorrect Simon... All I meant was that 6A is the way to go since you can get certified Cat 6A patch cables, tested to a standard. I have never seen someone call something 6E, but I'm sure you did. Still, manufacturers calling something X doesn't make X a standard, and getting "Cat 6E" means nothing, compared to 6A which has certain test values that must be respected. 

 The idea is: If someone sells you 6E you're getting... well something. If you buy a certified 6A cable you KNOW it works to a certain point. 

Yep good points..

Cheers

Simon