AES single pair

Re: AES single pair

Steve,

I'd recommend that whatever you get, do more than 1 pair. Even with AES handling two channels, there will be scenarios where your "stage-yonder" stack will want more outputs: Main, sub, frontfill, outfill, etc. Also, it'll give you redundancy if one of the pairs takes a dump. Remember with digital, it's almost always an all or nothing proposition, one legged equals no sound. I'd be curious if anyone has ever tried breaking out a 2pr/5pin DMX cable into two AES lines with a common ground.

As a point of interest, I'm curious why you're distributing AES. I would have expected that you'd use Dante in the PLMs to distribute that way and run a pair (main and BU) cat5.

thomas d.
 
Re: AES single pair

You can run 4 sets of AES down a single piece of cat5, and if you use a pair of cat5 runs as your cross stage, it future proofs you should you decide to go Dante or AVB further down the line.
 
You can run 4 sets of AES down a single piece of cat5, and if you use a pair of cat5 runs as your cross stage, it future proofs you should you decide to go Dante or AVB further down the line.

Nick,

How do you do this?

I saw several products that do this with DMX but I didn't know it was possible with AES as well.

It may be a good choice as some of our consoles may end up with Dante cards and others only have AES... we already have a pair of Cat5 in all of our looms.

Thanks,
Jason
 
Re: AES single pair

Nick,

How do you do this?

I saw several products that do this with DMX but I didn't know it was possible with AES as well.

It may be a good choice as some of our consoles may end up with Dante cards and others only have AES... we already have a pair of Cat5 in all of our looms.

Thanks,
Jason

AES does not need ground. So on the back of your rack add a cat5/6 jack and break it out to everywhere you need. I just built out a radio studio based on AES and all audio connected with RJ45 connectors. Cat6 has become as prevalent as 2c+ground mic cable for me. The number of adapters I have going XLR->rj45 is staggering.
 
Re: AES single pair

AES does not need ground. So on the back of your rack add a cat5/6 jack and break it out to everywhere you need. I just built out a radio studio based on AES and all audio connected with RJ45 connectors. Cat6 has become as prevalent as 2c+ground mic cable for me. The number of adapters I have going XLR->rj45 is staggering.

Only problem with using Cat5 is that it's a nightmare to work with. The jacket is fragile (unless you pay a fortune for the D-Cat5 varieties), and the conductors are a huge pain. Solid Cat5 holds spec better, and is actually easier to work with than stranded when it comes to terminating. Stranded is easier to move around and more likely to lay flat, but termination is terrible and it doesn't hold spec to the full 100 meters, usually. If not using Ethercon or D-Cat5, the cables and terminations in general are too fragile to be relied on for anything important (unless they're in an install, obviously). I'd much rather use multipair AES snake cable as a purpose-built solution than Cat5. It just sits better with my conscience.

CBI does make Ethercon RJ45 to quad-DMX/AES breakouts; they are super cool.
 
Re: AES single pair

Only problem with using Cat5 is that it's a nightmare to work with. The jacket is fragile (unless you pay a fortune for the D-Cat5 varieties), and the conductors are a huge pain. Solid Cat5 holds spec better, and is actually easier to work with than stranded when it comes to terminating. Stranded is easier to move around and more likely to lay flat, but termination is terrible and it doesn't hold spec to the full 100 meters, usually. If not using Ethercon or D-Cat5, the cables and terminations in general are too fragile to be relied on for anything important (unless they're in an install, obviously). I'd much rather use multipair AES snake cable as a purpose-built solution than Cat5. It just sits better with my conscience.

CBI does make Ethercon RJ45 to quad-DMX/AES breakouts; they are super cool.

Steve - sorry to sidetrack your question. :)

Silas - I wouldn't be building the adapters, I'd be buying them from CBI/Rapco/WW etc. I saw the CBI product brochure last week and even asked them if it worked with AES (it was advertised as DMX over CAT5). They weren't sure, I'll probably buy a set to try.

All our drive snakes and cross stage drive lines are bundled with duracat and ethercons already.

If it works, it will be very convenient.

Jason
 
Re: AES single pair

Steve - sorry to sidetrack your question. :)

Silas - I wouldn't be building the adapters, I'd be buying them from CBI/Rapco/WW etc. I saw the CBI product brochure last week and even asked them if it worked with AES (it was advertised as DMX over CAT5). They weren't sure, I'll probably buy a set to try.

All our drive snakes and cross stage drive lines are bundled with duracat and ethercons already.

If it works, it will be very convenient.

Jason

RELEVANT side tracks are a great source of information! This has been informative and thanks to all those who chipped in. The project was in the fast lane, so I have already moved forward.