AES 72 Spec and usage

[pucho812]

Has anyone here been doing anything with Audio over shielded RJ45 (cat5e, etc)

I have been thinking about playing with this for sometime in new studio builds cat5E cable is quite inexpensive.
I know guys like Dave Rat have been a good proponent for such connections.

I thought about using it for line level I/O but wondering about mic signals as well.
My thought is to make DB25 - duel RJ45 for patch bay runs to and from the gear.

 

[kags]

@thor.zmt mentions cat6 stp a bit. I’ve been eyeing it, too.

Post in thread '"Boutique" opamps from chinese vendors. Anyone tested?'
https://groupdiy.com/threads/boutique-opamps-from-chinese-vendors-anyone-tested.84892/post-1105425

 

[cyrano]

I've used all sorts of UTP for mic audio signal. Works pretty great. And unless you're in a very hostile environment it doesn't even need to be shielded. When you use UTP that's already in the building, you need to check for network activity on parallel cables. That can be a pita on long runs. Depending on the UTP, beware of cable runs of over 50 m. That's where problems appear and since the noise is faint, you might miss it when preparing.

These days, I use a couple of appsys.ch boxes to send 32 channels over one UTP, up to 75 m. But that's digital, of course.

For audio, you can forget the categories. I've never seen any UTP that doesn't work. Cat 5 and cat 6 only matter for network use. Cat 6 has different twisting speed on each pair, fi. But there's no effect on audio.

I started using it because I have boatloads of it. Mostly unshielded and older. If you find them somewhere, old IBM shielded cat 5 is great. Tough, best RJ45 connectors out there.

 

[thor.zmt]

For audio, you can forget the categories. I've never seen any UTP that doesn't work. Cat 5 and cat 6 only matter for network use. Cat 6 has different twisting speed on each pair, fi. But there's no effect on audio.

Yes and no. I recommend STP for starters, not UTP. And Cat6 and up have separate shields per pair, It becomes relevant in multicores.

And if you buy a box of CAT STP, you "cable for life".

Thor

 

[pucho812]

Yes and no. I recommend STP for starters, not UTP. And Cat6 and up have separate shields per pair, It becomes relevant in multicores.

And if you buy a box of CAT STP, you "cable for life".

Thor

Interesting. Thanks for that.

 

[cyrano]

Yes and no. I recommend STP for starters, not UTP. And Cat6 and up have separate shields per pair, It becomes relevant in multicores.

And if you buy a box of CAT STP, you "cable for life".

Thor

Yeah, forgot about those shields. I've never had trouble with UTP, though. But I mainly used it as a 4 channel patch cable. These days, I patch with optical (ADAT).

 

[pucho812]

So I did some kicad and made up 2 boards, one is DB25 to dual rj45 the other is neutrik RJ45 to solder pads so I can wire in XLRM, XLRF"


After today's wiring at my buddies studio taking a day to work out 1 b-gauge patchbay, I really want to experiment and have a full studio wired with STP.