4ch Analog Audio Over Cat5/6 Network Cable Pinout & Taking Apart A Radial Catapult.
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- čas přidán 5. 07. 2024
- This video shows the pinout of sending 4 channels of analog audio over standard network cable wired in the B standard. XLR and TRS 1/4" versions of the Radial Catapult are used as examples.
XLR Pinout:
Orange Stripe = Ch 4 Pin 2
Orange = Ch 4 Pin 3
Green Stripe = Ch 3 Pin 2
Blue = Ch 2 Pin 2
Blue Stripe = Ch 2 Pin 3
Green = Ch 3 Pin 3
Brown Stripe = Ch 1 Pin 2
Brown = Ch 1 Pin 3
*All Pin 1 grounds tied together and soldered to shield
1/4" TRS Pinout
Orange Stripe = Ch 4 Tip
Orange = Ch 4 Ring
Green Stripe = Ch 3 Tip
Blue = Ch 2 Tip
Blue Stripe = Ch 2 Ring
Green = Ch 3 Ring
Brown Stripe = Ch 1 Tip
Brown = Ch 1 Ring
*All sleeve grounds tied together and soldered to shield - Jak na to + styl
Beautiful resource bro and explained with diligence . I’ve been obsessed with making some myself! Subbed!
Nice. 🙂 Thanks for demystifying how it works.
Awesome video! Thank you for the upload.
ufffff amigo, que videazo, justo lo que estaba buscando, esa era la gran duda, donde se ataba la tierra de los cables, muchas gracias por el dato
COMO VA? LO PROBASTE O HICISTE ALGO ASI?
I "liked" with the big'ol thumbs up.... but really I love this vid. Much thanks hermano.
Anytime sir! Thanks for the kind words!
Thanks for this info, Billy! Is there anything else to Radials Catapult breakouts circuit wise? Or just an ethercon connector wired straight to XLR, TRS?
Hey Jim, no circuitry. It’s just a very nice PCB with punch downs connected to an Ethercon. It’s a very nicely designed box.
Awesome video! Quick note. Technically you could still use a twisted pair cat5e cable and have balances connections. You would loose the 4th pair due to using one of the 4th pairs wire as the ground, or just twist the last pair and use it as your ground bus.
Yes I indeed. I actually have a folder of video that needs edited showing how to make a 2 XLR cable where everything wires 1:1. I need to get moving on that!
@@billylaguardia heck yea good stuff. I'm working on my own box. But ya a cat5e twisted pair will work in a pinch.
Thanks for your clip! The challenge of my actual project is to pass : 2 +/- audio 50W wires (4 pins) and 1 +/- wires (2 pins) from an Arduino to a LED strip. Those 6 (4 to exciter speakers, 2 to a LED strip) all must pass into a "slip ring" for rotation aesthetic purposes. Slip rings compagnies never talk about audio, but i remember that the Cat6 is good for audio transmission. I used XLR6 and even XLR9 before, i wonder if you know anything about the way to go to for a "slip ring" audio solution for 2 x 80 Watt coaxial audio outputs aux the 2 wires for the LED strip all in one slip ring ? Thanks for your time. Martin
I’d say you would be fine with using Ethernet cable. 50w would be fine down network cable for the speakers. You would need to make sure your pin out matches what ever is in your walls. I’d punch an RJ45 to whatever standard is in your walls and solder the tails to whatever is coming out of your slip ring. I’ve only ever encountered slip rings with power reels, but I’d guess audio would be fine. Maybe make sure the rings are heavily lubricated to make sure there isn’t any crackling when they are rotating. Good luck!
What cable is used to make the fan tail in this box?
Hey there - I’ve tried to wire my studio with 20 lines (16+4) using CAT6 to XLR; I’ve terminated both of the analog ends with Neutrik combo jacks and get cross talk on every single channel.
Using super duper heavy duty shielded outdoor burial CAT6 cable, shielded RJ45 keystones, LyxPro CAT6 to XLR units, and again Neutrik Combo jacks (XLR+TRS).
I’ve been testing/troubleshooting tone one channel per set of 4 channels. Any idea why I’m still getting cross talk on all four channels when only one of the inputs is running tone? Should I try and ground the shield wire from the keystone to the chassis of the panels/rackmount panels?
Thanks!
Hi Tieran, are you testing with the keystones in a jack plate? Just thinking that if you are grounding to a metal keystone, and that metal keystone is touching a metal wall plate, all the pin 1 grounds would be touching mounted the wall plate.
Hello Billy. thanks for take your time and teach us and share us your PRO work ! Thanks a lot. I want to ask you something about audio over cat. If i want to have 4 xlr balanced how can must be the ground cable attached??? If you nly have the utp cable and the xlr connectors (tails) how would you make the connection??? how the ground would connect all 4 tails?? Thanl you again !!!!!
Hey Luis, you need STP cable to run 4 channels. You can use UTP in a pinch. UTP doesn’t carry the ground, just hot and cold (pins 2 & 3). UTP also won’t pass 48v phantom since it needs pin 1 to complete the circuit. You could make a custom cable that has 2 XLRs wired to an RJ45 with pins 1-3 wired on each connector. I’ve made these cables before, I should probably make a video on it.
@@billylaguardia Thanks Billy ! i will appreciate a short video showing the differences between STP nad UTP cables ! how to addd the phantom power etc. Nice work !!
@@luisberd no problem, I’ll add it to my list!
@@billylaguardia Hi Billy. Thanks a Lot !
Thank you 4 Making This video...Question...I have a line 6 variax cable (cat5e shielded ethercon) but the Rj45's ends on it are plastic....The shield wire does touch the Ethercon housing. but Dave Rat says on a Video that unless the cable is shielded AND the Rj45 is metal then you can't run phantom power..... i did do a continuity test and pin 1 infact does show continuity even tho the rj45 is plastic....i'm afraid to test on my mic for fear of shorting and ruining the mic...Any thoughts....Thanx in advance...
I know the Super Cat cables are specifically made for audio in terms of their grounding/RJ pinning, but I’ve never used them personally. If you are getting continuity on pin 1 you will be fine. If you use a multimeter, 48v is present on pin 2 and pin 3 of a console input XLR. In electrical terms, these are the “hots” with pin 1 being the “neutral” to complete the circuit. That’s why phantom won’t work with unshielded cable, since all the pin 1’s are tied together and soldered to a shielded (metal) RJ chassis. If Line 6 wired the cable in a way that pin 1 is terminated within the 8 pairs in the RJ you will be fine. You won’t hurt the mic, it will either work or it won’t.
@@billylaguardia Thank you so much for Writing back...and Yes the line 6 Cat5E ethercon did infact power my Mic when i turned on Phantom power on my focusrite 18i20..Thanx again! Peace!
@@acmebrandinc no problem, glad I could help! 😬
Can you use this to run from FOH to the stage for the purpose of running 2 monitor sends and 2 microphones, ideally with option to run phantom power?
Sure. You just need to use a shielded network cable (stp) to pass phantom.
Is there any problem using 2x 3 pins in a cat5e to run 2 balanced XLR line level signals over structured cabling?
I’m actually going to make a video on building that cable! Yes it will work.
can I run a parallel 0.5 mm wire for the ground say 30m ?? or is ground even necessary for running instrument channels and cordless microphones??
You could in theory run a separate ground wire. However this would not be a durable solution compared to simply using STP shielded cables and shielded RJ45 connectors. Audio will still pass over UTP cable as + & - signals are within the RJ45 connector. Instrument signals (aka TS) will be fine. A wireless mic will be fine as long as it’s 1/4” output is unbalanced.
With RJ45 or any other product are you aware of a way to add an on/off switch that would allow the 4 mics to be "muted"?
You would have to use something similar to the below link. You could probably get away with a 4 terminal switch by wiring the hots to the switch, while leaving the colds wired 1:1.
www.mcmaster.com/1789N57/
Billy, thanks for the video. In a scenario where I would like to make 4 unbalanced T/S on each
side, how would the shield need to be wired to function? is this possible? Thanks!
Hi RT. You wouldn’t need to wire the shield in this instance. The hot and cold will match pin to pin in a non shielded cable.
@@billylaguardia I was hoping to make a simple 4 channel snake for a 4 cable guitar rig from pedal board to amp.. Could I attach the shield to one of the channel grounds? would that activate the outer shield of the cable?
@@roythelms hey did you make any progress with your unbalanced setup, im thinking of doing the same to hook up keyboards. Was hoping I could send 8 unbalanced jacks down the cable using a shared ground on a shielded rj45 cable for all 8
I wonder why they are so expensive for what they are. Multicore stage boxes can be had for less.
So I’m just wondering, is this pin outs are some industry standard, or every manufacturer came up with its own pin outs? And you can’t plug a radial box in one end and some random manufacturer on the other end?)
Most cables are wired with the T568B standard. There is an A standard as well, however most people use the B standard. Assuming manufacturers use the B standard (which I would guess they all do), you could use boxes interchangeably as the pinout would be the same.
@@billylaguardia I meant pinouts in the board, from xlr to rj 45 socket)
Yeah, for a cable - pins doesn’t matter, if they are the same on both sides
They are hot (pin 2) and cold (pin 3) in channel order 1-4. The pin 1 grounds are all tied together.
In your video count starts from ch 1 cold - brown, brown stripe is hot,
But ch 2 - blue is hot, and blue stripe is cold
So in my version of rj45/xlr breakout box 2nd channel is mirrored to others)))
It’s like |32|23|32|32 (count from ch 1 /brown)
I made my custom catboxes the same, so until I’ll use only them - pinouts aren’t problem, but if I’ll decide to by factory one…))) will it be compatible with mine?)))
I just purchased a generic pair (not Radial), and it comes out humming loudly when connected via shielded CAT6 cable. What could be the problem? Appreciate your help!
It’s a grounding issue. Grab a multimeter or cable tester to make sure you have continuity between all the pins 1:1 on each channel. If it hums on every channel, I’d bet they tied the grounds together like the Radial and they are disconnected or loose.
Hi. Firstly, thank you for a great video. I have made a few XLR & TRS - RJ45 "patch cables". I have come across a situation I didn't know existed before I made my patch leads. I have been googling to find an answer to a question I have but have had no joy. I hope you or someone can answer my question. Its regarding the 2x types of Cat cables: "Straight-Thru and Cross-Over cables." The pin-outs are different between the 2x types. Here is my question. What type of cable does the audio industry use? Straight-Thru or Cross-Over? I hope you or someone can help me understand this. Again, thank you for your great video. Lani
The industry generally uses the T568B standard in wiring. This only really matters if you are using a buildings in wall wiring to send audio between rooms. If you are using your cable as a trunk line between XLR break out boxes, the wiring standard won’t matter as long as it’s the same. I’d stick with the B standard as you can use any pre-made cable. Crossover cables are generally only used for proprietary device communication. The only application I have ever run into that requires a crossover cable is programming a DBX zone pro. Hope this helps!
@@billylaguardia Thank you Billy for your advice and knowledge. Just in the last few hours today, I have been reading about these 2x T568A & B standards. I'm kinda glad I didn't know this last week! lol In one of the bars I play at, I ran a 15m Cat5e cable up thru the roof all the way to the back of the bar. The punters have always complained they can't hear the music from the front. Up till now, I've been using a wifi setup for a speaker way down the back. Anyway, it so happens after I made all my ethernet patch leads, "RJ45 to XLR, & RJ45 to TRS", it all works! Iol I have also since learned that the network cables I've bought and used are all "Straight-through!" Phew!! I must say tho, I certainly didn't follow either of the T568A or B standard! lol It just made sense to make sure that the "pin-outs" were the same at both ends!! In future tho, I will go with the T568B standard which seems to be the preferred standard. Again, thank you Billy. Cheers from down-under, New Zealand. :)
ITS POSIBLE TO MAKE A VIDEO MAKING ONE OF THIS ?
With this pinout, Radial does not adhere to any standard from the AES72.
This is an AES 72 standard
No it is not! Look for the Call for comment on DRAFT AES72-xxxx document
How is the ground wired to each of the XLR connectors?
All the XLR pin 1’s are twisted together and soldered to the chassis of the RJ45 jack
What is the maximum length one can run on this?
Same limits as any analog audio cable. Depending on the situation, you can easily go 300’ before you could possibly see problems. Shielded data cable in twisted pairs will reject RF very well. So you should be able to go longer without problems.
Which is the better cat6 flexible brand for audio ?
I like Sound Tools Supercat as it is the easiest to coil and closely matches the feel of a mic cable.
@@billylaguardia Kinldy suggest from Belden, I am from India and here Sound Tools Supercat not available.
@@shreesiddhivinayakmusic-sm5404 use Belden Datatuff.
Video loss please reupload
no translator, no transformer, no composant !!!! I going to do it myself. Thank for opening this wire box.
Glad I could help! Radial does a great job with their builds. I’ve built my own RJ45 - XLR cables. For the time you spend building the cables vs the cost of this box: the box is worth the $. You don’t need a transformer since it’s not converting signal level, the box is taking the pins 1:1. Anyway, my $.02
@@billylaguardia www.thomann.de/fr/radial_engineering_catapult_mini_tx.htm
These Cat5 breakout boxes are simply balanced analog audio connections running through the eight conductors in a Cat5 cable. What happens to the ground wires in each of the 3-pin XLR connectors, you may ask? They are all combined in the single Cat5 shield that surrounds the eight conductors. So not only are you relying on the fragile RJ45 connectors on the ends of the Cat5 cable, you are degrading the isolation of the previously separate ground wires of the four balanced XLR cables you plug into the inputs and outputs of the breakout box. If any interference or hum is present on any of those grounds, it will contaminate the grounds of the other three XLR cables as well.
TL;DR: Don't waste your money and risk your reputation on garbage technology.
To be fair, most devices share a common ground. Summing the grounds in this way really isn’t that big of a deal. The grounds are summed at the box instead of within a mixing console. The console grounds are summed to a chassis ground in addition to the electrical ground of the building.
@@billylaguardia - No, it isn't a big deal until a mysterious ground loop pops up an hour before doors open...
Anyone using this in a serious application is not using a fragile RJ45 connector and cheap ethernet wire. That is the whole point of using tactical shielded ethernet cable with EtherCON connectors. They are very rugged, high quality, twisted and individually shielded. Unlikely you are degrading the isolation of the separate ground wires of the four balanced XLR cables and there isn't a chance that a "mysterious ground loop" will be popping up due to this cabling method. These are excellent: czcams.com/video/XlYbC0xH-MM/video.html but there many examples of solid tactile ethernet cables you can trust as well as any copper snake.
@@PettyTheft - It's still a fragile RJ45 connector under that thin aluminum "ether"CON shell. Those network connectors were designed for permanently-installed rack-mount servers, not for underfoot on-stage cabling. Dismiss the potential for inadvertent ground loops all you wish, it's not going to change the fact that these overpriced snake-substitutes are DESIGNED to degrade the ground isolation of low-level analog audio signals.
@@FallenStarFeatures They are not all fragile. @Billy LaGuardia even has a video describing the difference between Neutrik NE8MX-B carrier only & NE8MX6-B which has an integrated RJ45. EtherCON connectors are tested and rated > 1000 mating cycles. BTW, a standard Neutrik NC3FXX XLR connector is also rated > 1000 mating cycles. EtherCON was designed for professional audio and stage lighting with constant insertions not for permanent-installed rack-mount servers that never move. Check out Dave Rat demonstrating running a phantom powered microphone over 1mile of Cat5. czcams.com/video/f0nKK43Oeas/video.html and also a great comparison of Cat5e vs a audio snake and what the expected signal loss of 100 meter cables czcams.com/video/KZqoA12Qjr8/video.html Same with cheap XLR audio cables, you are correct low quality Ethernet cables are fragile and could fail. Quality tactical ethernet cables and EtherCON connectors are not designed to degrade ground isolation or break. Our analog over Cat5e based monitor flyrig is injected in various venues audio system all over the US at 60+ gigs a year, and we have yet to experience any inadvertent ground loops.