Digital Coax Cable Length

[br??]

Hey guys,

Having a long (~10-15m) digital coax cable would make my life a lot easier, but I'm not sure whether or not this would have any adverse effects on sound quality.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

regular digital coax cable is typically of RG59/U type which has max distance of 750ft (~230meter)
If you want extra insurance get a bit better shielded RG6/U which has max of 1000ft (~300 meters)
In any case you see where I'm going with this...right?

 

[br??]

Thanks for your reply. Just to clarify - are you saying that you can go 750ft without any loss to sound quality? Or is that simply the maximum distance at which the cable works entirely.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

It's a digital signal - it's 0 or 1 - works or don't. There won't be any quality degradation due to distance.
Being shielded cable I don't expect such short distance as 15m or 50ft to pose any issues

 

[br??]

Awesome, thanks. Just out of curiosity, what causes cable failure above 750ft?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

This is about ethernet cables, but most if applies:
https://www.belden.com/resourcecenter/documents/upload/Impedance_Return_Loss_Part1.pdf

 

[Speedskater]

Yep, Bored nailed it. Saves my from trying to say it half as well.

 

[br??]

Interesting paper. Thanks again.

 

[Speedskater]

Steve Lampen at Belden has 100 blog pages, many are about audio cables.

http://www.belden.com/blog/index.cfm?authorID=1000035&postedby=Steve Lampen

 

[highfigh]

Awesome, thanks. Just out of curiosity, what causes cable failure above 750ft?

Landscapers, mostly.

Mostly signal loss causing the voltage to drop below the trigger threshold for the input and the effects of degradation of the signal.