Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems SpeakerLink Cable Advise

Hi Folks,

I may be moving to a new built apartment which is able to incorporate all my cabling etc. into the build so as to be hidden. The company I am using wants to clarify if I need Meridian's own cabling as they feel it may be standard Ethernet cables. In fact below is the question that they are hoping to get answered by Meridian Technical:

As I am not technically minded I know many of you will know what's best. Any system no matter how good the components are only as good as the weakest link & I don't want that to happen.

Any thoughts/advice very much appreciated

Thanks
Alex

I'll start this off.

You want screened and/or shielded CAT5 or above cable. ie STP at minimum. Unshielded is UTP which will pick up any interference from around. The CAT rating does not dictate the screening/shielding, although some of the higher ratings only get their rating because of the screening/shielding.

Screening is a screen around the whole cable.
Shielding is a screen around every internal cable pair
You can have both. The plugs are important as UTP plugs are plastic, STP/SFTP etc cables will have a metal outer to the plug. So it's an easy test.

So CAT6 STP (or FTP) would be fine, SFTP would be better. Typically screen/shield makes it a bit less manageable to they may complain about not being able to bend it so sharp or a bit harder to terminate.

Sometimes, you only want to connect screen/shield at one end - if you run the risk of the devices at each end having a slight voltage or earth difference - ie may be on substantially different electrical circuits - possibly a different building or fuse box/consumer unit. But the network guys should know this. In a single room, it should not be an issue.

Personally, I would wire to a patch panel or two in a suitable location which allows you to reconfigure as required in the future at the theoretical expense of a couple of joins in the cable at the patch panel.

Also, imho worth enquiring about LSZH cabling which will not generate so much nasty stuff in the event of a fire - avoids a potential issue if cabling is bundled through living areas.

Plus usual caveat of not running it parallel in close proximity with power cables.

And, at the risk of telling granny how to suck eggs, the CATx cabling for the speakers MUST be separate from any Ethernet network. The speakers do not use ethernet protocol to get their signal. The speaker and ethernet networks must not interconnect.

Probably too expensive for the whole build, but just for the part of the cabling which is for the Meridian SL spec., this is fantastic stuff I, and I believe several other forum members, now use:

You can buy custom length terminated, individually Fluke tested cable assemblies here:
Custom Cat6a

Or, more likely for your installers, by the sounds, the Datwyler Uninet 7702 Cat7 Stranded cable the assembly is based on by the reel/metre here:
Datwyler by the reel

It meets or exceeds the standards outlined above, and sounds great. As Gianni has said, from the endpoint to the speakers Meridian SL is not carrying network data, but balanced digital audio, so if you personally subscribe to cables sounding different for digital audio (some do, some don't), this would come into play here...

In general, solid core for running fixed cabling into keystones, stranded core for patch leads terminated into plugs.

Good point. There is a solid core variant of the Datwyler -

Solid core off by the reel

Don’t forget that most cables if they are to be permanently installed now need to be CPR compliant.

CPR compliance

I don’t know the regs, but the details of the standards met are on page 3 of the datasheets linked on the product pages. E.g., the Datwyler solid Cat7 here