I’ve been looking at some Echo products for my church and keep seeing the install instructions mentions the wiring should be “Belden 8471 or equivalent“.
Since this Belden cable is over $1/ft, what would be a much more economical equivalent? I can’t find any specifics about the Belden cable like impedance, but would any cable capable of serial RS485 communication work? I can get that type of cable for around 30 cents a foot.
I like the idea that you can use cat 5, but requiring a $60 termination kit for each station just kills any benefit of using cat 5.
Hi EricTX. We have an approved cable cross guide listed on our website with alternates. The Belden 8471 is just the recommended version to use.https://www.etcconnect.com/Support/Cable-Cross-Database.aspx
Why is the approved list changing with no notifications? Belden 5200 used to be approved, and now it is un-approved. There should be some sort of date on the list when that change was made.
Hi Clark,
Changes to the Cable Cross Database were communicated within this BackStage Article last year (PDF page 5-6). Perhaps we should have communicated this also within our Marketing Newsletter as well. If you have further questions regarding this please reach out to aesupport at etcconnect dot com.
Cheers!