a few Noddy does networking questions for the IT savvy amongst you.

Hi SJB,  daisy chaining will loose bandwidth.   Your switches are all unmanaged,  so direct connection every time.  The opt-3 music on separate switch & the rest (data)  daisy chained might work,  but it is 2nd best.    Daisy chaining is done in big (commercial/office)  installs using stackable switches,  but these are a specific managed switch config & best left to IT specialists.

I’ve managed to avoid any daisychaining, but this does mean that a lot of data is handled via your router in it’s capacity as a switch. Your router may or may not be very good at doing this, so if it causes problems, it may be better to use a standalone switch as the ‘hub’ of your network, and connect everything via that. 

There's another option. As well as connecting a switch/switches to the router, run a cable direct from the router to your smart TV, if that's possible.

Although daisy chaining does lose bandwidth, there is so much of it that it really doesn't matter in the least. 

What I would (and do in fact) do is take a single feed from the VM Superhub to the first switch and then connect the other switches in whatever way is simplest from the point of view of routing cables.

I don't bother separating the audio from PCs, printer, TV etc and it all sounds fine to me. But you can spend time and money playing around with it if you please and it's all just common sense as to what you might keep away from everything else.

Best

David

I always thought I was supposed to keep my home network away from going through the router to be honest. I only feed two rooms, so I have an unmanaged switch connected to the router in one room, then another identical switch feeds off the first switch to the second room. Now, I could feed that second switch from the router, but then stuff intended to pass between rooms has to go through the router and I thought I was supposed to avoid that.

Do all the ports come back to that central patch panel?  If so ideally investing in a new switch to accommodate all connections would be best.

Second best would be to one of the switches as a kind of backbone “hub”.  The router and the other switches then all have a connection back to the central hub, and also connect “servers” such as your NAS to the backbone too.

If you use the “old” name for a switch - a hub (that isn’t quite true as a switch is a specific type of hub) - then that gives you some idea of the way you should try to connect things up.  You can daisy chain switches, but that makes them less efficient.

Alternatively...

To qoute the HHGttG "Don't Panic!"

First get the network working reliably, then get it working well.

In other words, start off by connecting it which ever way makes most sense for the physical layout, and test it for a few weeks...

If everything works reliably - for instance no drop-outs and the control point you use 'discovers' the player and media store, then start optimising data flows and sound quality.  If there are network issues fix them first!

Given the number of sockets, looks like an extensive network. I have something similar at home.

Probably the best solution is one of Cisco's Gigabit unmanaged switches in a full-rack width. I use an 18 port switch.

Output from ISP modem, goes via a network cable to a switch input.

Sockets connected between a switch an patch-panel via CAT 6 patch cables. For streaming ports I use Chord C-Stream cables. 

All network equipment is connected to a router.

I’ve got switches chained together all over the house and never noticed an issue. I think Huge’s advice is solid. Get it working first and then see if there’s a problem vs trying to come up with a solution to a non existent issue first. BTW, if using a Netgear GS or FS switch before the audio set up, one should ground shunt it using the John Swenson DIY adapter and plug the server and streamer cables into non-adjacent (i.e. #1 and 3) ports. All is explained at the CA Uptone forum. I could copy and paste the pertinent info here but not sure if that’s allowed. This little trick totally transformed my system. 

charlesphoto posted:

I’ve got switches chained together all over the house and never noticed an issue. I think Huge’s advice is solid. Get it working first and then see if there’s a problem vs trying to come up with a solution to a non existent issue first. BTW, if using a Netgear GS or FS switch before the audio set up, one should ground shunt it using the John Swenson DIY adapter and plug the server and streamer cables into non-adjacent (i.e. #1 and 3) ports. All is explained at the CA Uptone forum. I could copy and paste the pertinent info here but not sure if that’s allowed. This little trick totally transformed my system. 

My email address is in my profile if you could do the cutting and pasting there?

Thanks,

.sjb

Would the info in question be the SMPS and grounding thread on the computer audiophile forum?

Never heard of the idea before, but 'totally transformed my system' makes it sound worth a look.

IMHO Huge is right here 

My VIrgin  hub supplies only broadband (not a good switch) and feeds into an AE for WiFi and Cisco switch for Ethernet which serves everything else. Thankfully I got the builders to hardware CAt6 into the walls so the number of additional switches is kept to a minimum.

Tog posted:

IMHO Huge is right here 

My VIrgin  hub supplies only broadband (not a good switch) and feeds into an AE for WiFi and Cisco switch for Ethernet which serves everything else. Thankfully I got the builders to hardware CAt6 into the walls so the number of additional switches is kept to a minimum.

That is exactly my setup - works well, is stable and robust (in my case the ISP modem is different, but that is irrelevant here).

charlesphoto posted:

............  if using a Netgear GS or FS switch before the audio set up, one should ground shunt it

Be careful with this,  the Netgear metal cased switches are capacitively grounded between the switching circuit board & the case.  Its 100% OK if your ethernet cable is UTP (unscreened),  but if your ethernet is STP (screened) you will be adding a 2nd ground point to the STP network;   an STP network should be single point grounded.     

I'm not saying it won't work or is bad,  just be careful & trust your ears. 

Dave***t posted:

Would the info in question be the SMPS and grounding thread on the computer audiophile forum?

Never heard of the idea before, but 'totally transformed my system' makes it sound worth a look.

That is correct, in the Uptone sub forum. Read the whole thing, avoiding the off topics, but mostly the posts from John Swenson.

Mike-B posted:

charlesphoto posted:

............  if using a Netgear GS or FS switch before the audio set up, one should ground shunt it

Be careful with this,  the Netgear metal cased switches are capacitively grounded between the switching circuit board & the case.  Its 100% OK if your ethernet cable is UTP (unscreened),  but if your ethernet is STP (screened) you will be adding a 2nd ground point to the STP network;   an STP network should be single point grounded.     

I'm not saying it won't work or is bad,  just be careful & trust your ears. 

All of that is covered in the thread over at CA. 

Sloop John B posted:

So I have new shiny network cabling running around my house terminated at a patch panel

I have a virgin hub router and  am using a netgear ProSafe GS108 to give juice to a few points around the house but now want to have a few more points live and would like to initially use my existing switches that I was using previously, mainly a netgear Prosafe Gs105 and 2 TP link (100mb) switches. I wondering what is the best way to connect?

1. I think this is called daisy chaining?

2. each a separate link from the router

3. Music on separate switch data "daisy chained"

Thanks in advance.

 

.sjb

 

If your older switches are 100 meg and everything terminates in a single spot why not get a TP-LINK or NetGear 16 port switch. I recently picked the http://www.tp-link.com/us/prod...t-42_TL-SG1016D.html up for $59 USD.. NETGEAR if you prefer it has a similar one https://www.netgear.com/support/product/FS116.aspx that is similarly priced. Network topology wise #2 is your best choice. However I think the really best and tidy thing to do is get the TP-LINK - it has 19" rack adapter with it, you can rack it right with your patch panel.