What is a high qulity Ethernet cable and where can you buy it?

[headrott]

Title says most of it. I am looking for a high quality ethernet cable that is unterminated (bulk). It needs to be solid core pure copper please. I would only need about 4 or 5 feet of it, not a reelf of 1000 feet please. If you know of one and where to get it I'd appreciate some suggestions and links to where I can find it. Thanks again guys.

Greg

[steveinaz]

Belden is pretty well respected for commercial grade wiring.

[zingo]

Can't go wrong with Belden as stated above.

[gimpod]

Greg I don't know if you can buy bulk cable in 4-5 foot lengths, It might be cheaper and easier to buy a terminated 6 footer and cut the ends off. Just my $0.02

[BlueFox]

Greg I don't know if you can buy bulk cable in 4-5 foot lengths, It might be cheaper and easier to buy a terminated 6 footer and cut the ends off. Just my $0.02

Yes, and get the latest standard, which is not CAT5. I'm not sure where the standard is at this time.

[steveinaz]

CAT6 or possibly CAT6e

[On3s&Z3r0s]

I think Cat 6A is what they call the really fast cable. I think the big difference is Cat 5 cable does not have the nylon spline that they put in Cat 6 cable to give it a little extra strength. If you're just going to cut the terminators off I wouldn't worry about the 6 vs 6a distinction. And your best bet for a short length like that is to just buy a preterminated cable and cut the plugs off.

Deepsurplus.com has cable in all grades for cheap, but you might take it in the shorts on shipping. Rat Shack, Target, Walmart, Best Buy might be your best bet. I agree that Belden is a great brand, but I wouldn't get too hung up on the brand. I think any Cat 6 with a good sturdy jacket like the stuff they sell at deepsurplus should do you.

[headrott]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I forgot to add that I will be using this for audio signals too. Is Beldin still the best suited? Or is there an "audio grade" Ethernet cable?

Greg

[On3s&Z3r0s]

You lost me around that last turn... where in your audio chain are you going to be using 5 feet of UTP cable?

[EndersShadow]

You lost me around that last turn... where in your audio chain are you going to be using 5 feet of UTP cable?

Maybe to run between two walls to connect a item in one room (computer) to a item in a different one (squeezebox) or DNLA enabled AVR....

Thats about my only thought...

I know the installer who hooked up my Uverse is using all ethernet for his audio signals...but I dont know what you would gain by doing such.....

[bsoko2]

Blue Jeans cable in Seattle.

[headrott]

You lost me around that last turn... where in your audio chain are you going to be using 5 feet of UTP cable?

I am tapping the DSD signal (before being encrypted) to run to an RJ45 jack I installed into my SACD player and running that to and RJ45 jack I am going to put into the DAC I made. I probably don't need 5 ft of it, but wanted to be safe footage wise. It would not be between the 2 jacks, but from the Audio board DSD chip to the RJ45 in the SACD and also the RJ45 run internally to the DAC board in my DAC. Hopefully that's clear.

Thanks for the input guys. If anyone has other suggestions I'd appreciate it.

Greg

[CoolJazz]

I would think the big thing would be getting solid or stranded wire!

Stranded is for bending and is like what comes in jumper cables. Solid is for being in a not being moved around situation. Stranded may be challenging if trying to get soldered down on small traces.

For high speed signals, the big deal is to leave the twist even and as close as possible to the connection point. I'd consider solid in a plenum version if I read where your putting this right...only inside. Plenum gets you the better jacket. Tinning the wire prior to placing would be recommended. The soldering iron heat tends to quickly melt back the jacket.

In Belden, they made some higher grade called Mediatwist and some other similar name. Good stuff! One I used a bunch of was a flat cable style, rather than the otherwise typical round. You sound as if you'd be able to use just a single pair stripped out, so exterior look and strand lay may not be relevant in your use.

Good luck!

CJ

[On3s&Z3r0s]

I'm still not sure I understand, but it sounded to me also like you're going to be using this like hookup wire for electronics work inside a case? If that's so, I personally wouldn't use 24 gauge UTP. I'd think that would be too small to work with comfortably.

[strider]

I am tapping the DSD signal (before being encrypted) to run to an RJ45 jack I installed into my SACD player and running that to and RJ45 jack I am going to put into the DAC I made. I probably don't need 5 ft of it, but wanted to be safe footage wise. It would not be between the 2 jacks, but from the Audio board DSD chip to the RJ45 in the SACD and also the RJ45 run internally to the DAC board in my DAC. Hopefully that's clear.

Thanks for the input guys. If anyone has other suggestions I'd appreciate it.

Greg

Damn Greg! Dunno about which cable to use, but killer use of it!