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Is coax 75ohm stupid legacy for home use?
- Thread starter DonDish
- Start date
I am. Run both AES/EBU and balanced analog through CAT6.
Because in post after post and thread after thread every ASR member knows a copper cable is a copper cable so electricity has little problem moving through it.
That's how I wired up our local radio station some 14 years ago. Used a mixture of 8 pair STP and Cat5 cables depending on how many circuits I needed. Far cheaper and easier than running individual cables from studios to racks.
S
AnalogSteph
Major Contributor
Cat snake cables are even available off the shelf, terminated in Neutrik etherCON connectors or copies thereof (basically an RJ45 with gold-plated contacts shoved into an XLR sleeve).
But I don’t need an AES paper to tell be that this works… it’s trivial.
OP
DonDish
Active Member
- Thread Starter
- #48
I got that from Wikipedia. Old tech, but apparently still used in some far away place. I did a browse for twisted pair tech. I cant explain this, and its not relevant, but Im always amazed at what ppl invent with understanding of natures secrets. How we can manipulate the forces we dont see because of invisibility or beyond microscopic sight. We can only see effect, and with experiments and math we can make results. Todays philosophy lesson
I havent even finished morning coffe I feel if Id knew those secrets id be a billionaire or maybe a pile of ash in my own laboratory. Anyway, knowledge is a rich feeling!One day, or even sooner im gonna take out the solder iron. Get some kits or blueprints. Make some understanding from resistors, diodes and such. Just make something simple and even useful. Im juggling alot of stuff so, when I was done with all the cable and adapter-making, I went into woodworking. Now I want to fuse the two into some useful stuff for my setup ie the BO-box and and a small bench for 2x "9.5 RME units. I did some woodstuff before, but this another level. I have spent a year+ to collect the wood for this project. To have a selection to choose from. Ebonies, 10 years dried, some of it meant for luthiere work. I dont take these matters lightly. I want add I dont use rosewoods, mahoganies and other listed and protected species. Only legal wood!
This is some of the collection. 3 species of ebony. Pale moon and black Gaboon. Some Persimmon. You cant compare the mechanics of this wood with typical softwood and lesser hardwoods. At first ebony was a rabid dog for me, but when you befriend it, its the sweetest thing. Pure privilege.
Certainely I want nice looking contacts for this. I like the rugged quality of Neutriks and other pro stuff. Its important for me that these desicions are mentally sound and functional. So thanks to ASR.
JSmith
Master Contributor
This may explain what you're referring to (I haven't watched all of it) for those that don't have access AES;
JSmith
OP
DonDish
Active Member
- Thread Starter
- #51
I found this and this:Cat snake cables are even available off the shelf, terminated in Neutrik etherCON connectors or copies thereof (basically an RJ45 with gold-plated contacts shoved into an XLR sleeve).
That should do right, this terminate and cut isolation in one blow. And colour codes at PCB correspond to wire colour? I have a friend who work in automation. He can help me work the punch tool, if theres a difficulty to that.
That looks good. Punch tool is pretty easy to use, you should not need help. It's not so much a punch, as a "push the wire correctly into the slot" tool
I guess that connector is for the inside of your unit. If I'm correct that insulation displacement connection system is designed specifically for CAT wires, so you'll need to be using them inside your gear also. If you are connecting multiple interfaces on the one CAT cable you might just need to remove the outer insulation (and shield if present), so you can separate the internal pairs to their needed destination.
Even more relevant, imho, are these RJ45 adapters:Cat snake cables are even available off the shelf, terminated in Neutrik etherCON connectors or copies thereof (basically an RJ45 with gold-plated contacts shoved into an XLR sleeve).
Speedskater
Major Contributor
Steve Lampen at Belden Cable wrote about using CAT cable for analog audio way back in 2013.
The Strange World of Cat 5e and Cat 6
Steve Lampen 10.08.2013
The Strange World of Cat 5e and Cat 6
Steve Lampen 10.08.2013
OP
DonDish
Active Member
- Thread Starter
- #57
Those look smart. Awhole system of rj45 to audio. Its kind of the thing I aim to make, but in a box.
Tell me something. If I split the twisted pair into two. to make use of the eight lanes at the RJ45 contact. It defeats the purpose of the twisted pair concept? How bad is this? 1 pair for spdif signal and return and 1 pair for AES +/- and so on. Or else I would have to use two rj45 contacts for input.
Like I stated im into two projects. One is a simple weighted box with rubber feet, made to act as a stand with stoppers at the back for ADI-2 pro, to prevent from sliding around. With 2 rca and 2 xlr at the back. Two duplicates at the front(I thought of some jumpers to configurate these). All slapped in wood veneer.
The other is a stereobench with small shelves and 8 I/O neutrik chassi contacts to accomodate both UCXII and ADI2pro. These units use same DB9 breakout adapter supplied by RME. If you dont know check image at beginning of post.
So its alot of contacts and wire. Limited real estate. I have to put this together in RL you know. With minimal of protruding thick cables. Short wire runs etc. Its not straight forward like that
What sparked this project where these: RME DTOX Nice to have right
I have what I need from the RME adapter, but for practical reasons im not so found of it. Its heavy and makes my setup look like a snakepit. So I want an I/O patchbay. I have so many ideas. Thats easy, but sorting ideas is harder bcs of limited knowledge. And I have that itch now to get started, but I need the final design to be complete. I cant bring ideas to this that will shatter at reality. Standing there with hardware I dont need.So decision is, cut short, go halfway or all the way with impedances and specs. Ill think I just have to try some stuff like the suggestions you and others have given. Hook up some longer cables and run bitest.
???? To mix AES and S/PDIF, why not just add RCA-XLR adapters at each end as needed?
Then better get those sssnake thingies with 4 inputs/outputs. With 2 RCA adapters it accommodates all of the RME DB9 IOs onto a CAT cable without any soldering whatsoever.
If all you need is those 4 IOs, you can also just skip the box and use that
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