Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems cat5 or cat6 advice needed

I am going to be putting in some cables underfloor for the arrival of my 7200 next week , as iv'e also purchased the ac11 i am in desperate need of some advice regarding the cable .

should it be stp ( shielded i think ) or utp ( unshielded ) cat5 or cat6 . i intend to buy today and install over weekend . the dealer can terminate the ends .

cheers

neil

Neil ,
Best of luck with new toys M's own Speakerlink details are up on Duncs site here :

http://www.Meridian-audio.info/show.php?compid=223

and this site has some very easily digestible articles on various types of cable , particularly HDMI , and sell Cat 6 on a roll :

http://www.hdcable.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=cat+6&x=13&y=19

and this site too has good info but won't ship to UK :

http://www.hyperline.com/catalog/cable/stp4_c6_patch_indoor.shtml

I got some good quality Cat 6 in a local computer shop for my own setup and it works like a charm .

~M~

Get the best shielded cable you can (STP or better). Compared with hi-fi cable it is dirt cheap so good shielding won't break the bank! Some terminations are more robust and screened than others.

cheers guys ,

asa any pionters on the terminations

GG45 are supposed to work with RJ sockets and have a higher spec. I have not tried them (I only found out about them after I had bought my cables) and could not say whether they are worth the extra outlay.

I'm not sure if Cat6 STP is really needed. In my datacenter environments we don't use any Cat6 STP and have no issues with any data transfers. I've never actually laid hands on Cat6 STP but my understanding of the cable is that it's pretty stiff and doesn't lend itself to easy routing.

The only times I've seen STP cabling used is in high RF/EMI type environments.

Yes. You don't need Cat6. Cat5 STP is all that's required. I chose Meridian Cat5 STP, including because it would have been tested on the 7200s and will be good quality. Maybe one day someone will confirm a Cat5 that's better than M's but until then I thought trying another brand was risky.

I use cat6a and it is no more difficult to handle / route than cat5. The difference in cost between the higher and lower spec is next to nothing so I opted for greater RFI rejection. Meridian cable is almost ten times more expensive than non-hi-fi branded cable.

Some more links .

http://donutey.com/ethernet.php

http://www.hdcable.co.uk/HDMI/super-long-HDMI/hdmi-cat5-extender.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAT_6

Cat 6 isn't strictly neccessary but it is backwards compatible so won't present any problems . If M were charging about half of what they are charging I probably would have bought it with the speakers . I'm sure even they may change their recommendation as better Cat6/6A/7 cables are developed but I don't know where you could go that would stock 7200s and say , a dozen or so cable types ??

~M~

Why not get Cat7 and have that piece of mind regarding emi/rfi? It must still be cheaper than the branded cable right?

So what is the cost of the M SpeakerLink cable? per metre?

Absolutely , and if in the future you ever needed to run 2k or maybe even 4k HD video you could use it and a balun to carry it around your home . M do 15m for about �150 but you can get a 1000ft bail of Cat6 from hdcable.co.uk delivered for less . Add terminations and you're done .

~M~