How far wil 24/2 carry Aux Input from computer?
- Thread starter ahreno
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felixrosbergen
Senior Member
It's not really clear to me what you're trying to achieve here...are you trying to put audio form ipod/laptop into the HTPC?
Also would this be an 'extension cord' type situation or will you be putting this in the wall with a jack where the laptop/ipod then plugs in?
For signal level audio it appear coax is recommended. You would go from stereo jack on output of iPod/laptop to a splitter that makes it RCA/coax with the oppposite on the other end of the cable.
Is the 24/2 already in the wall and are you trying to make use of it? If so then just try and see if it work...if not then i wouls say 24/4 is not the ideal medium to carry the signals. I am new to all this though so please don't take my word for it and wait for somebody else to chime in.
Also would this be an 'extension cord' type situation or will you be putting this in the wall with a jack where the laptop/ipod then plugs in?
For signal level audio it appear coax is recommended. You would go from stereo jack on output of iPod/laptop to a splitter that makes it RCA/coax with the oppposite on the other end of the cable.
Is the 24/2 already in the wall and are you trying to make use of it? If so then just try and see if it work...if not then i wouls say 24/4 is not the ideal medium to carry the signals. I am new to all this though so please don't take my word for it and wait for somebody else to chime in.
drozwood90
Senior Member
I have cat5e cables carrying "line-level" signals throughout my house, in my custom Whole House Audio system.
The longest run I have is about 105'+~5-10 feet for the actual cable going from the wall to the speaker itself.
I haven't needed to go farther.
--Dan
The longest run I have is about 105'+~5-10 feet for the actual cable going from the wall to the speaker itself.
I haven't needed to go farther.
--Dan
IVB
Senior Member
Did you use baluns, or just a direct connection to the +/- of each channel?
drozwood90
Senior Member
Direct.
Just make sure to use one of the pairs...it helps keep the noise down.
I've also "direct" hooked up composite with L/R audio. each on their own pair. Through the same type of setup, I was able to get about the same distance without any discernable loss. Keep in mind I was watching output from a VCR...so it might have been bad enough already that I didn't see a problem. However, I compared RCA cables to cat5e. Made a cable of cat5e to match three of my longest RCA cables (bought couplers). The video on the RCA cables (maybe 30') looked wsahed out...very bad! I then hooked in the cat5. Looked the same as if I had hooked in a single SHORT cable between the VCR and TV, at least to me. That's when I then looked around the house for my longest cable...which was 100'. Hooked that into the RJ-45 connectors. It looked the same as the 30' piece.
So, that's when I got the idea to run all my audio throughout the house that way. I bought a bunch of USB sound cards and made a control script for Homeseer. Now I have whole house audio...cost me about $90 in parts (10 Zones...9 Zones of audio, 1 Zone for announcements that I switch in to the other audio streams using relays).
I didn't use Baluns. Baluns probably make a difference to an Audio or Video phile. I didn't seem to see any difference in the quality.
--Dan
drozwood90
Senior Member
I used an ethernet wall box from Radio Shack during my experimentation. Bought some RCA connectors (panel mount), 3.5mm jack, a blank cover (the RS box had holes for two RJ-45 punch-downs), and one punch down.
I hooked one + and one - to each pair, my thought being Composite and stereo. Then I thought, what if I wanted to hook in component and audio? I needed more wires. So, I hooked in the stereo from the 3.5mm into the last pair...and tied the audio ground to one of the composite grounds.
I have NOT tested this with ANY component...so I'm not sure it will work (if the audio and video grounds are isolated..that would be bad).
BUT composite with audio, or just audio (which is what I do with my Whole house distributed audio) works / sounds great!
Just keep in mind...it's purely for line level sound...you wouldn't be able to drive anything of any power through this wire. So...that's why I use PC speakers at my end points! They are small, cost effective and (again, personally) find they sound decent! Especially the pair we put in the kitchen. H&K's I had laying around from one of my PCs that died long ago...
I bought some water proof ones for the bathrooms ($9.95 at RS on sale). Other rooms are just whatever we found when we did.
Cost effective?...yes...perfect?...no...does it do what I want when I want?...yes
Does it have high WAF? Absolutely! It's the best automation thing I could have done! It's covered my butt for many of the "bad" automation projects...things that didn't work out so well...
The worst being...
Bathroom lights are supposed to stay on..all the time! At night they are supposed to come on at 30% so no one is blinded...
Well, the wife went in there one night (after we went to bed)...lights went on 30%. She shut the door, the lights SNAPPED on to 100%, then off, then on to 100%. Then, AFTER she sat down...20-30 seconds later, the lights went off and stayed off....
Needless to say...I was woken up on that one!!
--Dan
I hooked one + and one - to each pair, my thought being Composite and stereo. Then I thought, what if I wanted to hook in component and audio? I needed more wires. So, I hooked in the stereo from the 3.5mm into the last pair...and tied the audio ground to one of the composite grounds.
I have NOT tested this with ANY component...so I'm not sure it will work (if the audio and video grounds are isolated..that would be bad).
BUT composite with audio, or just audio (which is what I do with my Whole house distributed audio) works / sounds great!
Just keep in mind...it's purely for line level sound...you wouldn't be able to drive anything of any power through this wire. So...that's why I use PC speakers at my end points! They are small, cost effective and (again, personally) find they sound decent! Especially the pair we put in the kitchen. H&K's I had laying around from one of my PCs that died long ago...
I bought some water proof ones for the bathrooms ($9.95 at RS on sale). Other rooms are just whatever we found when we did.
Cost effective?...yes...perfect?...no...does it do what I want when I want?...yes
Does it have high WAF? Absolutely! It's the best automation thing I could have done! It's covered my butt for many of the "bad" automation projects...things that didn't work out so well...
The worst being...
Bathroom lights are supposed to stay on..all the time! At night they are supposed to come on at 30% so no one is blinded...
Well, the wife went in there one night (after we went to bed)...lights went on 30%. She shut the door, the lights SNAPPED on to 100%, then off, then on to 100%. Then, AFTER she sat down...20-30 seconds later, the lights went off and stayed off....
Needless to say...I was woken up on that one!!
--Dan
tmbrown97
Senior Member
I did something similar with the Audio over Cat5 in a fairly elaborate setup... I was challenged with getting synchronized audio through one floor of our building for a christmas party last year - so I grabbed some hi-powered computer speakers, some Cat5 and some 1/8th" male jacks.
Our office has Cat5 ports everywhere - way more than we'll ever need... so I made jumper cables that were an RJ45 male on one end and an 1/8" stereo male jack on the other (Actually I had to make a bunch, some male some female). I soldered the stereo jacks on, connecting basically blue to left+, orange to right + and the blue/white and orange/white to the negative.
Then in the conference room, I ran the PC audio out into a headphone splitter that sent one lead into the in-room amplifier for the speakers already in there - and the other into one of my custom cables into the Cat5 run down to the server room. In the server room, I used another of my custom cables off the patch panel into another splitter that used 2 more of my custom cables back into the patch panel - one for a reception area, and one for an office - then at the reception area used yet another of my cables and plugged her computer speakers into it, and ran another set from a nearby office out into the hallway.
nobody thought it'd ever work - but I tested it at my house first and it worked great (was able to mimic the whole setup, including patch panels) - and it worked great, so we took it to the office - amazed everyone that even with all the distance and connectors involved, there was no discernible loss as the volumes we were using. For my in-home test, I got it as loud as I could and it sounded great.
Thought about bringing the whole setup home as a cheap jerry-rigged way of getting synchronized audio around the house...
Our office has Cat5 ports everywhere - way more than we'll ever need... so I made jumper cables that were an RJ45 male on one end and an 1/8" stereo male jack on the other (Actually I had to make a bunch, some male some female). I soldered the stereo jacks on, connecting basically blue to left+, orange to right + and the blue/white and orange/white to the negative.
Then in the conference room, I ran the PC audio out into a headphone splitter that sent one lead into the in-room amplifier for the speakers already in there - and the other into one of my custom cables into the Cat5 run down to the server room. In the server room, I used another of my custom cables off the patch panel into another splitter that used 2 more of my custom cables back into the patch panel - one for a reception area, and one for an office - then at the reception area used yet another of my cables and plugged her computer speakers into it, and ran another set from a nearby office out into the hallway.
nobody thought it'd ever work - but I tested it at my house first and it worked great (was able to mimic the whole setup, including patch panels) - and it worked great, so we took it to the office - amazed everyone that even with all the distance and connectors involved, there was no discernible loss as the volumes we were using. For my in-home test, I got it as loud as I could and it sounded great.
Thought about bringing the whole setup home as a cheap jerry-rigged way of getting synchronized audio around the house...
PaulD
Active Member
As a reference point, the HAI HiFi system uses RIM's (Remote Input Modules) that allows someone to plug in a source (iPod/etc) to the RIM and feed the line level signal back to the central unit where it is then amplified and sent to the speakers. The HAI documents do not recommend a Cat5 run exceeding 500 ft for this situation.
felixrosbergen
Senior Member
Looks like i stand corrected...
Why are people using coax for line level audio distribution then if a single pair of a cat5 does the trick?
Why are people using coax for line level audio distribution then if a single pair of a cat5 does the trick?
drozwood90
Senior Member
Audiophiles. I'm sure tehre is some loss...but to those of us <cough> hard of hearing, or just do not care...a set of PC speakers and Cat5 seems to do the trick.
--Dan
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