# Ethercon Termination for Behringer x32



## soundtech193746 (May 1, 2018)

Hi all!

Got a quick (somewhat stupid) question to ask.. We are recently upgrading our sound system to a Behringer x32 with a S16 digital snake. My question is - Can we use normal ethernet for the run through the stage then terminate it to ethercon jack? at the booth. I was thinking one of these wall plates.

It will end up being a 2-gang wall plate because I plan to have 1 be ethercon and the other be xlr faceplates for the assisted surround.


Let me know your thinking


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## Mike R (May 1, 2018)

Yes absolutely. Ethercon is just a neutrik casing that goes around a standard RJ45 Ethernet connector. It is not necessary to have an ethercon connector at all, and you could just plug Ethernet straight into the board. 
That being said, I prefer ethercon because it provides a much more resilient connection and some extra strain relief.


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## Wheezy (May 1, 2018)

Mike R said:


> That being said, I prefer ethercon because it provides a much more resilient connection and some extra strain relief.



A million times this.

Are you willing to lose all your stage inputs when that stupid little tab on a standard RJ 45 breaks midshow?

That just happened at the performing arts center I did a show in last week. Only a little different, we had two X32's cabled to use one as a monitor board. The stage monitors started popping during sound check for a well known band that has been touring for 40 years. Embarrassing. I discovered the loose connection on the AES50 out from the FOH board. The venue had used one home run (no wall plates at all) Ethernet cable instead of Ethercon. After tying the cable to the xlr inputs to provide strain relief, there were no repeated pops during the show. Sure the same could have happened with a beat up Ethercon, but that armor goes a long way to minimize the risk.

You can use standard CAT 5 or better between the wall plates, but definitely use Ethercon between the plate and the board/S16. Disclaimer: standard LAN rules apply. I wouldn't run it over 100 meters.


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## JohnD (May 1, 2018)

One little point that you probably know, I believe that X32 and M32 require Shielded rather than the usual unshielded. I wonder if the long run is in conduit if utp will do?


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## FMEng (May 2, 2018)

Actually, the ethercon is essential for_ electrical_ reasons, not just mechanical. The ethercon shell gives the shield a proper ground to the chassis, which shunts static discharge away from sensitive circuitry on the circuit board. It has been proven through scientific testing that shielded cable alone will not prevent crashes in the audio due to static electricity. A crash can be very hazardous to speakers and ears. A shielded cable with ethercons is immune to the problem.

The static problem was originally overlooked by Behringer/Midas. When the X32 debuted, the specs said UTP was fine. A professional user discovered the problem and solution, and Behringer changed the specs to STP only.

My guess is UTP in _metal_ conduit would be fine, provided the conduit is grounded. Just make sure shielded cable with ethercons is used between wall plates and the equipment

Also note that Neutrik makes Cat 5e ethercons and Cat 6 ethercons. Only Cat 5e ones mate with the equipment. The Cat 6 connectors are a different size altogether.


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## Chris15 (May 2, 2018)

FMEng said:


> Also note that Neutrik makes Cat 5e ethercons and Cat 6 ethercons. Only Cat 5e ones mate with the equipment. The Cat 6 connectors are a different size altogether.


And now Cat6A too.
They DO intermate with the original Cat5e Ethercons so hopefully the 6s will go the way of the dodo sooner rather than later...


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## TimMc (May 2, 2018)

Mike R said:


> Yes absolutely. Ethercon is just a neutrik casing that goes around a standard RJ45 Ethernet connector. It is not necessary to have an ethercon connector at all, and you could just plug Ethernet straight into the board.
> That being said, I prefer ethercon because it provides a much more resilient connection and some extra strain relief.


NO, NO, and HELL NO.

The CAT5e must be shielded and their must be DC continuity between Ethercon shells. This is direct for Behringer/Midas regarding the X32/M32 mixers and S16/S32 and DL16/DL32 snake heads.


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## TimMc (May 2, 2018)

Wheezy said:


> A million times this.
> 
> Are you willing to lose all your stage inputs when that stupid little tab on a standard RJ 45 breaks midshow?
> 
> ...



The popping was *possibly* related to the funky tab on the RJ45, but Behringer has been requiring STP with Ethercons for ground continuity since 2015.

DO NOT USE UTP. DO NOT USE STP without Ethercons.

It's that simple.


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## cekren (May 6, 2018)

AES50 (the digital audio protocol used by X32 systems) is *not* a TCP/IP (Layer 3) compliant protocol. That means that any cable listed as "IP Compliant" _will not necessarily _work to reliably connect the console and stagebox. AES50 is known as a "Layer 1 - Physical" protocol - that is, it just happens to use the same physical media (e.g. an RJ45/8P8C connector w/ CAT cable) as IP devices. The caveat being that AES50 requires STP (shielded) CAT5e cable with the shields bonded to the etherCON shells *at both ends* to ensure electrical continuity between devices. Otherwise, you may experience "explosive" pops through the stagebox outputs as built-up static electricity discharges cause timing/sync errors. Note: some off-the-shelf STP etherCON cables leave one end of the shield lifted to form a type of "telescoping ground" - this will NOT comply with AES50* requirements.

* - Another caveat - the STP requirement of AES50 only applies to X32, M32, and related stageboxes. Midas PRO-series consoles and stageboxes still use AES50 but do not require shielded connections.


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## Jay Ashworth (May 9, 2018)

The last 2 posts have mentioned "ground continuity".

You're not suggesting that shield is grounded at both ends, are you?

We know about ground loops, right?


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## rphilip (May 9, 2018)

Jay Ashworth said:


> The last 2 posts have mentioned "ground continuity".
> 
> You're not suggesting that shield is grounded at both ends, are you?
> 
> We know about ground loops, right?


Yes the shield needs to be connected at both ends. With a digital signal the traditional hum/buzz from ground loops doesn't happen.


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## Jay Ashworth (May 10, 2018)

Analog hum won't, no.

But I had a client who had an RS-232 serial terminal, 2 decades ago, who went through line driver/receiver chips about monthly... because the machine room and the front counter *were on different power services*, and the grounds were either not tied, or not tied well enough; we measured *11VAC* in potential difference between the ground pins of the 2 outlets in question.


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## FMEng (May 11, 2018)

AES50 is transformer isolated, much like ethernet connections. After all, computer networks run through big buildings without trouble from varying ground potential. Grounding is the last thing on an IT technician's mind, and yet ethernet is quite reliable. (That begs the question, what _is_ on an IT person's mind? But I digress.) I'm pretty sure the designers of AES50 stole the electrical interface from ethernet.

I probably test this more than most because I mix live broadcasts where I have to setup my console a fair distance from the stage so that I can get a quiet monitoring environment. I've been in green rooms, dressing rooms, basements, offices, storage rooms, and even in a rented van in a parking lot. (The van avoided mixing in a restroom of a tiny venue.) I'm sure a few setups had power spread across two panels with potential voltage difference between grounds. I haven't had so much as a hiccup yet.

By contrast, RS-232 has no isolation, is an unbalanced signal, and the more common I/O chips are famous for being temperamental.


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## Jay Ashworth (May 11, 2018)

Well, I dunno; the people in this thread don't sound like whackjobs, and they appear to think that this is -- or at least can be -- an issue:

http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php?topic=156799.0


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## FMEng (May 11, 2018)

It's possible someone will find extreme conditions under which the shield current couples enough interference iinto the data pairs to cause problems. I just think the bar is pretty high. The reason is the ethernet transformers have a high pass frequency above 1 MHz. 60 Hz and its harmonics simply don't get through.

For insurance, I always carry an ethercon coupler and a short UTP cable, to break the shield continuity. I haven't used it yet.

Klark Teknic makes an AES50 to fiber optic converter. A set costs more than an X32.


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## Jay Ashworth (May 12, 2018)

Fair enough; you do this for a living.


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## TimMc (May 12, 2018)

Jay Ashworth said:


> Fair enough; you do this for a living.



Not to create "me too" posts that seem to be frowned upon here at CB.... but we've had M32/X32 and their stage boxes powered from different electrical panels without any deprecation of audio or indications of electrical problems (i.e. current on the shield, checked with a clamp ammeter). I don't recommend this practice and usually run power to FOH from the stage - all our analog snakes have 12/4 or 10/5 taped to them - but sometimes there is zero analog cabling to FOH and we take power where we can find it.

So far I can say "no problem, mon".


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## Jay Ashworth (May 12, 2018)

Definitely good to hear, and I personally don't think extra data points on such things go amiss.


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