Cat5e cable specs for dSnake

[BJ]

I ordered an AR2412 for my QU. I have a 150′ chunk of Quabbin DataMax Extreme Cat5e cable with ethercons. It is UTP. Is this OK or will I end up needing STP?
Searched the forums here, but surprisingly didn’t find anything.

Cheers

[Pete]

My AR2414 came with a short STP cable. Presumably this is for testing purposes. I have since bought three cables, 20, 50 and 75 feet all of them have been STP. All work perfectly. The big difference between dSnake and regular LAN traffic is that LANs do not mind if you drop the occasional packet. In fact packet collisions are quite common and are actually planned for in the Ethernet design.

With dSnake, the best one can hope for wit a dropped packet (even if it uses packets –dunno) would be increased latency whilst the packet is resent. If the dSnake protocol is a stream, not packeted, then data loss must occur.

In either case any extra protection such as shielding must be worthwhile even though the signal paths are balanced, well, opto-isolated.

I based my decision to use STP on two things:
1. The cable that came with the AR2414 was shielded.
2. My own experience in the telecommunications and electronics field with shielded and balanced cabling on decades.

[GCumbee]

I have installed several QU and GLD boards. Have used both 5 and 6 Shielded and unshielded. I have yet to have any problems that I know of. My longest install run is about 200+’. It is shielded 6. Works perfect. Most are 6 and most are less than that length. I have s 100′ Jackreel factory cable I use with my QU16 and AR2412. Haven’t had any issues with it.

[dpdan]

I too have used numerous different types of Cat 5 and 6 cables with the AR2412 and never had any issues.

The biggest advantage of the “overly expensive” Neutrik reel of cable spec’d for A&H is the fact that A) it is indeed sheilded, and B) the jacket is extremely rugged for location work inside and outside. I ordered the actual Allen & Heath 260 ft. cable on the reel from Allen & Heath and they shipped me a Neutrik cable on the same reel with rubber booties, but the cable was not purplish like the A&H cable seen in pictures, it is black. All is good in the hood 🙂

[Andreas]

Neutrik cable? The purple ones were Klotz RamCat RC5.
I’m using the solid core version (which needs a little more care) without issues yet: Klotz RamCat RC5-SB

[hobsound]

I am using the Behringer NCAT5E-50M reel, probably the same one that A&H uses (some OEM is my guess) with my Qu-16 and 24 and 2 x AB168’s.
No issues ever.

[Andreas]

@Rob could you check what’s printed on the cable? If that’s a Klotz cable, the selling point including reel and connectors is significantly below bulk price…

[hobsound]

I will, just need to dig it out of my trailer!

[hobsound]

Looks like the reel is made by Schill in Germany.

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[dpdan]

[Andreas]

Sure, that’s a Schill reel. Cable manufacturer for the Etherflex cable is Contrik, a swiss company.
Full spec can be found here: Etherflex Data Cable Category 5e, product name is indeed “NEUTRIK Etherflex”.
According to the company profile Contrik was founded in 1985 as the swiss subsidiary of german connector manufacturer Neutrik AG and named Neutrik Zurich AG until 2010.
Interesting. Now my personal confusion around this cable came to an end, thanks for the info.

[dpdan]

Hi Andreas, when I purchased the cable I was expecting purple “A&H” color cable, but when it was black I have to admmit,
I thought I got cheated… not cheaper cable, but just a big reel of cable that would not have near the “resale” value to those who think the A&H digital mixers mmust have purple cable. Marketing confusion,,,, you bet 🙂

Dan

[Nicola A&H]

Hi All,

All cables listed on our website are, at the moment of writing, sourced from Neutrik, and black in colour.

These include:
AH9650 – 100m drum of Etherflex cable with Neutrik EtherCon locking connectors.
AH9981 – 50m drum of Etherflex cable with Neutrik EtherCon locking connectors.
AH9651 – 20m Etherflex cable with Neutrik EtherCon locking connectors.
AH9997 – 2m cable with Neutrik EtherCon locking connectors.

The only purple cable ever distributed by A&H was the Klotz 120m (part number AH8721) which we no longer supply.

[Inverted3829]

First time post for me, but I have learned sooooooo much from this forum when it comes to my QU mixer. As for the cable, I finally stashed away enough money to buy the AH 9981 50m cable reel and the AR2414. Not many distributors of the cable in the states that I could find. I did find the cables on FullCompass.com here in the U.S. They carry the 80ft and the 200m (393ft). I called regarding the 50m length. The person I spoke to even called their supplier and the AH-9981 is discontinued for the U.S.
I had planned on buying this cable 5 months ago but just didn’t have the money. It was available back then, but I guess if “you snooze, you loose”. Not True!
I just happened to look on here today because the rep from Full Compass had found a suitable replacement cable. They recommended the Behringer NCAT5E-50M reel. I came on here to look for information regarding this cable or other suitable replacements. Of course I found it and Rob you put my mind at ease. I’ll be ordering those items tomorrow! Thank You everyone!

[GCumbee]

As I said previously, I have installed many consoles with all kinds of cables from real basic generic 5e up to heavy 6 shielded. Never had any issues. I feel the DSnake protocol is extremely robust. The longer runs I would suggest always going with 6 or 6 shielded. But I have never had any problems.

[Author]

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