Amp to speaker over Cat5e data cabling?

Superficial · 18 Jan 2015 at 18:50

Hi there,

I've heard a lot of people talk about how useful Cat5e can be to send audio signals down.

Is it possible to use a free RJ45 data socket to send music to a speaker in an, otherwise, difficult to wire room.

Basically can I substitute speaker cable with data cable and some kind of RJ45 --> PA speaker adapter (appreciate that this may just be cat5e cable at one end and exposed wiring at the other) at each end?

any experience or suggestions?

thanks

Blackbadger · 18 Jan 2015 at 20:17

cat5 is awesome for carrying signals, it is not so awesome at carrying high currents over long range, look up POE restrictions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet#Power_capacity_limits

Looks like around 30w absolute max, combined over multiple cores, or melting/fire.

Basically the wires in cat5 are a lot thinner than speaker wire, so for low power speakers you should be ok, for anything with a bit of umpf, I'd suggest against it.

Remember I am just a random on a forum, do not trust what I say and do proper research.

lucid · 18 Jan 2015 at 21:54

This thread is going to get flooded with DIY audio enthusiasts extolling the virtues of FFRC speaker cable made up from several cores of Cat cable twisted together. What it will overlook is that FFRC uses significantly more cores, and the distances involved are rather different. These two factors are key in determining the current carrying capacity and power losses in cables. This is some of the engineering reasons behind why Blackbadger is on the right track.

Speaker level signals over Cat cable in a house wired with Cat is going to be a poor solution. You'd be better off sending the signal at line level using Cat baluns and then installing an amp in the same room as the remote speakers.

Superficial · 19 Jan 2015 at 00:11

Thanks for the replies so far. The actual length of the cat5 cable is probably less than 30 feet.

The speaker will be in a small office used to receive clients - so long as it's audible that should be fine.

If people still feel the volume will be insufficient couldn't a powered speaker help?

Once again I am a novice

lucid · 19 Jan 2015 at 00:24

If nothing else, then a powered speaker will probably be a more practical solution simply because it will be easier to control the volume to an appropriate level when standing there in the reception rather than trying to do that remotely from another office.

Whatever you decide to do, the Cat cable for that link will need to be segregated from the office's network. The connection should be point to point rather than going via network switches and patch panels.