analog audio over short CAT5 twisted pair

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Twenty Log said:
COTS CAT5 type of wire/jumpers would be ideal if there aren't any audio issues...  Thoughts?  Thanks!
Transmitting 2 channels of analog audio is part of the standard protocol used by Powersoft. As long as the source is low impedance and nothing silly is done with the cable run (avoid power transformers/motors/dimmers/RF transmitters), good results can be relied upon.
 
Twenty Log said:
'twas thinking of a short board-to-board jumper with connectors; connectors for serviceability and debug purposes...

...frequently found on modern commercial equipment - power amps, consoles, signal processors, etc.  Many different brands.

Except that even more frequently the interconnections are done via ribbon cable, which is even more susceptible to noise pickup than twisted pair.  And, the ribbon cable is often far lighter gauge than the 24 gauge that is usually used with CAT-5 cable.
 
arnyk said:
...frequently found on modern commercial equipment - power amps, consoles, signal processors, etc.  Many different brands.

Except that even more frequently the interconnections are done via ribbon cable, which is even more susceptible to noise pickup than twisted pair.  And, the ribbon cable is often far lighter gauge than the 24 gauge that is usually used with CAT-5 cable.
This topic has been pretty well explored but you can even get ribbon cable with twisted pairs.

I generally use shielded cables for critical audio interfaces, but a lot of audio travels over unshielded and not even twisted PCB traces (but even that has been done after a fashion, with multi-layer or 2-sided PCB). Perhaps that's why we put sensitive circuits inside metal boxes.

JR
 

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I think it is good to remember that noise picked up by wires is predominantly of electrostatic nature, and that a global shield is as efficient in this respect as individual shields. However, individual shields are often preferred because they prevent electrostatically-induced cross-talk.
 
  This isn't really the topic, for carnival in a long venue (~300m) we did the distribution with cheap TV coax, to cheap TV connectors, RCA adaptors and RCA to unbalanced TS plugs adaptors, from the mixer directly to the power amps in each station. The result was better than what you would expect, and of course much cheaper and readily available than the "proper" alternative.

  Even without getting into audiophoolery I learned there that very often we overestimate the importance of wiring  (not always). It depends a lot on the environment and other surrounding factors. This particular application was with flying wiring without anything close but the ocasional light post where they were attached. Inside a studio or even worse in a disco there are much more going on around the audio wiring and sometimes a slight improvement in the wiring could save the day.

JS
 
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