Re: Audio Guys I need cable help
 

You are right. I thought the audio line level was mono.
The two drain/ground wires would be in contact with each other through the shield. They would "share a ground" as you say.
But the wire that Jon has would work. He is also right about Cat5 as long as you pay attention to your pairs. The impedance difference created by the different twists matters. I always use shielded tho... because I did it for so long before Cat5.
If he has a multiconductor wire with a ground, use the ground that touches the shield wrap for your mic ground. Use one of the jacketed wires for your audio (line level) common "ground."
Splitting a pair with shielded wire is not as much of a potential problem as splitting a pair with Cat5.

I checked my "two pair" last night and I only have about 75 feet.

Re: Audio Guys I need cable help
 

So Jon,
You are saying Cat 5 is good for "Line Level" sound? At what length could you run before you start to get loss?

Re: Audio Guys I need cable help
 

Sharkey that depends on a LOT of different things. One is what is driving it. I have gone as far as 1000 feet on cat 5 and had little loss. I have also gone 100 feet and it sounded like crap. We send everything over cat5 now. In the house I am working on today we are sending video, audio, digital audio, HDTV all from a centralized system to 8 theaters and 32 zones of audio all over the house. Longest run is probably in the area of 250 feet and the picture is stunning. We are using special boxes in this house to convert the audio and video to cat 5 and then pulling it back out. This is what we are using at the head end http://www.crestron.com/products/sho...t=1052&id=1005 . Not at all practical for a boat but you get the idea. The problem with cat5 is I would not recommend it in a area were it is going to be bent and twisted a lot as it will break.

Jon

Re: Audio Guys I need cable help
 

And bending and twisting interferes with the twists and the distance between conductors and ruins the shield effect, too.

(Jon meant to say that.) :D

Re: Audio Guys I need cable help
 

Wow!!! :eek:

Now that is some serious equipment!

I was simply looking to run cables between my HP Media Center Computer to my Harmon Kardon Surround Sound Amp AVR 20 ll.
For right now just in my home office I ran RG-56 dual insulated cables. I had plenty of it and I was unclear how well Cat-5 was going to work for audio. I still have the option right now of running the Cat-5. Which do you think would be better for audio and video?

At a later date, I will be building a "Home Theater" and would like to Pre-wire it right. I wish I contacted you sooner... :(
I did use Cat-5 Plenum for the S-Video because I tried it out temporarily and I saw no change in the picture.
With the Cat-5 is there an adapter needed to change the impedance???

Re: Audio Guys I need cable help
 

As it turns out, with the system I bought the pilot and co-pilot (this is an avionic unit) have completely independent systems. The 4 passengers share the audio, meaning all four headsets run off the same 3 audio wires L&R&gnd). The mics are seperate. Since the 4 will run across the back of the boat I am going to run a single audio cable to the 4 connectors. I'll also run 4 channel mic cord for the mics. For the front 2 the runs are extremely short but I'll probably use the same cord.
My biggest concern is picking up ignition noise, especially with the mics.