Careful. A bit of confusing/incorrect terminology is being used in above posts.

SHIELDED cable is where individual twisted pairs are insulated

SCREENED cable is where the whole outer cable is insulated

You can get SCREENED and SHIELDED where the individual pairs are insulated and the whole cable is insulated.


Speakerlink should be SHIELDED cable at minimum as this prevents cross talk within the cable.


Unfortunately the mnemonic designation of the cable is equally confusing so always double check. But shielded cable is typically stamped STP. Wikipedia has a table summary of permutations and different designations.

The good news is that cable is easy to check. The RJ45 plugs should have metal outers and cable will be stamped, normally with STP (or variation) or shielded somewhere on the outer.

Meridian owner since 1992
Prime & PSU, Focal Elear headphones, Roon (ROCK 8Gi5 NUC), Explorer 1 & 2, F80. 200/203, various Sonos (via Roon).