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CAT5 between tuner and amp?

post #1 of 5
3/19/10 at 4:43am
Thread Starter 
New home construction has tuner/theater in the living room and amp/distribution in the basement. Owner forgot to run speaker wire from LR to basement but there is a spare CAT5 available. Can you connect the tuner to the amp with CAT5 without introducing any problems?

Thanks all!
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post #2 of 5
3/19/10 at 4:47am
It's not optimal for carrying audio signals.  Most of us use coaxial cable like RG-59 or RG-6.
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post #3 of 5
3/19/10 at 6:12pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone have a technical explanation as I've also heard that due to low levels between the tuner and the amp and because of the twisting of CAT5, cross-talk is reduced and the levels should be ok in this arrangement.
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post #4 of 5
3/20/10 at 10:13pm
Tim- Welcome to Home Theater Forum.  Can5 can't replace speaker wire, but if you were want to run a line level audio signal (connecting a cable to the red and white jacks), then you can use cat5 for that but you have to use a balun on each end.  RCA cables which typically connect a source to an amp aren't designed to run long distances.  This is where cat5 can be useful.  In my experience you get what you pay for with baluns, so I would personally look in the $50-$100 range.  You will need one for each end.  Here is an example: http://www.ramelectronics.net/audio-video/a-v-distribution/cat5-audio-video-extension-balun-s/audio/ets-stereo-audio-balun-pa807/prodPA807.html
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post #5 of 5
3/22/10 at 4:17am
Thread Starter 
Thanks Adam. I suspected this was the case. The owner insisted on not using balun's yesterday (at least to to see what happens) and found the audio levels very low and distort very easily. He'll be shopping for some balun's today I imagine.

Thanks
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