Best choice of digital multi cable

[gibbothegreat]

Don't know if anyone has done this exercise, but I'm looking to run in 2 ways of RJ45 cable from our control room/rear stalls position to the DSL corner of the stage, mostly for use by visiting sound companies who bring their own digital mixers/stage boxes. I'm aware different manufacturers have different specs, so does anyone have a good catch-all choice (or pair of choices, as I'm running two cables) that should cover most of the makes we're likely to see - Yamaha LS9, M7, CL, Midas Pro, Behringer X32, A&H, and Soundcraft are the ones I've seen here so far. CAT 5 or 6, or one of each?, screened or unscreened? Developments in the foreseeable future?... any thoughts welcome.

 

Many thanks.

[J Pearce]

By the time you pull in two you may as well pull 4. Covers artnet, video, all sorts, and as cable is normally sold in 305m drums you'll probably have enough spare to do it.

 

Cat5e or Cat6 cable would be best, as most audio applications need the bandwidth. Most applications seem to still be using the Neutrik Cat5 terminations, rather than the specific Cat6 ends though.

 

Shielded/unshielded has advantages either way, I'm not clued up enough to comment really.

 

If you really want future proof I'd pull a twin fibre line too, but you'll need a skilled person to terminate and test it.

[Wilflet]

- I'd consider 3 not 2 to be standard for a Midas Pro2 system.

For the others you'd generally run 2 with 1 being 'needed' the 2nd being for redundancy. With the pro2 you only get 24 channels in each direction per cable, so you actually need 2, a 3rd is common practice for redundancy. If you see them often Id consider running in a third (it might be useful for other things if not needed for desk too).

 

- Id consider having a little bag of jumpers kept somewhere so that your ends can be either "normal" domestic type rj45 ends, Neutrik ethercon or the amphenol equivalent (RJF?) to increase the variety of desks that can make use of your lines.

[J Pearce]

Assuming wall plate ends, rather than cable, a Neutrik chassis ethercon will accept a standard cable end RJ45 without issue. You might want the amphenol adapters though.

[smalljoshua]

I'd say no less than 6x Cat5 between stage and FOH. That's 3 for Desk, 1 for Sound Control (Mics/Amps), 1 for LX/Video data and a spare.

 

I'd go with Solid Cored Shielded Cat5e. Cat6 has different twists which upsets some Video Baluns. Cat5e will happily support 1GB/s communication. I'd recommend getting a decent cable tester to prove out the cable (not just for continuity but for data integrity) for piece of mind when someone complains about the cable.

 

 

Josh

[gibbothegreat]

As has often been the case on here for me, it's only when people's answers come in that I realise how much information I didn't share in the first place! First of all, thanks very much for those replies, which are immensely helpful. What I should have said is that we already have a CAT5e patch from the control room to facility panels around the stage and FOH tech posts, so that sees video and sometimes audio (8 channels of Ethersound) taken care of. There is also a DMX patch in the same vein.

 

However, there is only one outlet at each panel, so the specific thinking behind this exercise was to have two cables dedicated for a digital mixing system. That partly came from a memory of the first time we had a Pro2 in and being told (IIRC) that Midas didn't support it going via any kind of patch, for them it had to be an unbroken cable connection straight from the desk to the stage-rack. Interestingly, both on this occasion and the 2 subsequent times we've had a Midas in, the companies involved have only run 2 cables. However, it is possible that their channel count was 24 or less, that is pretty typcial for the size of acts we get - but the point is well taken, and I would be as well to run in four ways as two.

 

I had a memory of reading somewhere that CAT6 actually wasn't just a 'better' verson of CAT5 and some units specced for the latter didn't like it, but couldn't track that reference down. I was also remembering that one make and model (I think it might have been Soundcraft Vi?) actually specced CAT7, but would work on CAT5.

 

Once again, thanks for the input.

 

 

[smalljoshua]

The Midas will run on two just fine, just doesn't have any redundancy. There isn't a way to config 2x Cat5e as redundant instead of just a 48/16 core on the DL251. It will run fine over a Cat5e patch you just need to be careful to ensure that the max length doesn't exceed the 90m + 10m Stranded Patch Cable limit as specified in the Ethernet standard. It won't work with any Layer 3 switching hardware in the way that Dante will though.

 

The diagnostics tools in v2.05 of the Midas software and higher (accessed by clicking the red/green status light near the top right of the screen) are very good for checking the status of the connections.

 

Josh