Thinnest CAT7/leads for current gen beolabs

9 replies
Dear friends,

Looking for best cabling for my beolab 50s. Have temporary thick SF/FTP cables for them. Both for analogue PL and digital PL.

I suppose the digital PL (DPL) can be thinner without loss of quality in the transmission as only 100 mbit and digital info is transmitted but analogue might be of risk for noise.

How have you done discrete installations and so you crimp cables yourself?

Also curious about nice covers for cables. (Power and sources).
Give Steve a ring or email, soundsheavenly.com ๐Ÿ˜

I just had a look and can only find one cable on there and it is a CAT6 cable. It is probably OK but I wonder if there is more alternatives. I guess there is a few installers here and or other people who has made custom installations or bought cables locally. I want to be able to make cables specifically for my speakers so they are the perfect length and can be pulled through already available tubing in the walls. 

 As I was curious when I bought my speakers I still am. Not because I need to, because I enjoy it and want to learn more. Sometimes thinner cables are necessary, for example in my current installation where my speakers have hallways passing between both of them so the cables are in the floor. But the CAT7 cables I use are too thick for that so I now have to hide them very badly below temporary carpeting. 

Hi Michael, I also will use Cat7SFTP cable (in wall terminated with RJ45 wall sockets) for my classic speakers (Lab8000 & 6000). I do not have a thickness issue, but I have seen there are cable resellers (webshops) that have cable diameter as a filter. Maybe you can find a webshop that supplies to where you are that has this feature as well? Good luck!

Johan

Location: Netherlands

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Hi,

I don't recommend trying to find thin cables for Beolab 50 speakers, this is a good way to spoil the sound quality.....  Thicker Cat 6 STP or Cat 7 STP cables will have better shielding to reject unwanted electrical noise.  This is why I don't offer any thinner cables on my website......

Kind regards, Steve.

Location: The cable workshop, England

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Steve at Sounds Heavenly wrote:

Hi,

I don't recommend trying to find thin cables for Beolab 50 speakers, this is a good way to spoil the sound quality..... Thicker Cat 6 STP or Cat 7 STP cables will have better shielding to reject unwanted electrical noise. This is why I don't offer any thinner cables on my website......

Kind regards, Steve.

Steve.

www.soundsheavenly.com

Sounds Heavenly are proud to sponsor BeoWorld!

I completely understand this as for the analogue interface but not for the digital one. The latter meaning the digital power link (AVB) link between the master and slave speaker. This is a 100 mbit Ethernet connection, meaning that the traffic is 100% digital and packet based. As the bandwidth is many times higher than the sound signal over Ip will ever be I fail to see how a thinner cable could ever be an issue in this case as noise floor isnโ€™t a question as itโ€™s not analogue.

But for cabling from a tv for example to the master speaker itโ€™s an entirely different story. Although the old thin Mk3 cables would suffice too but as Beolab 50 and 90 has profiles it would not be possible to control them without the data signal leads, that is not part of the mk3 cables, just mk2 and the fully signaled cat ones.

So annoying ๐Ÿ˜€

Hi Michael,

Good point, however I tend to suggest avoiding thinner cables generally in this setup, as the risk is that an installer may then fit the thinner cables for all RJ45 connections (analogue and digital).

Kind regards, Steve.

Location: The cable workshop, England

My B&O Icons:

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Beolab-18.png Beolab-18.png
Beogram-400x.png Beogram-400x.png
Cables, friendly advice and great ideas for connecting Bang & Olufsen! Ask any questions at https://soundsheavenly.com to get the best from your B&O! Please visit my B&O YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/soundsheavenlycables

Steve at Sounds Heavenly wrote:

Hi Michael,

Good point, however I tend to suggest avoiding thinner cables generally in this setup, as the risk is that an installer may then fit the thinner cables for all RJ45 connections (analogue and digital).

Kind regards, Steve.

I agree, but the B&O cabling system is horrible now due to RJ45. A house owner or client have no idea of what is in what connector as RJ45 is now used for Powerlink (with voltage and sensitive analogue inputs) and Ethernet, Ethernet Power over Ethernet etc. In the B&O sphere it can be almost anything now. Including HDMI. I understand the versatility but it is not very versatile as it is used so un-universally. I wish it was all ethernet based from when they switched over because then no risks would exist. Just connecting pre-ICE equipment to a RJ45-wired PL home is a big fire risk for example if not for those speakers installing galvanic separators etc.

by that I mean, I do understand but I also think the thin cable would work well for me in this scenario as it is just between two speakers. But anyway, I need to find a solution that makes it possible to have my speakers connected and the cables hidden away. I can try and drill a bit in the wood to lead the cables out more easily and stick with the thicker cables too.

For some reason the link seems lost, its here: https://imgur.com/a/pObrLMG

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