My new Midas DL32

[KMaxwell]

Yesterday I picked up a New Midas DL32. It was ordered in February. I hope to open the box up today or tomorrow and hook it up to the WING and see how it works. But I may not get to it for a few days.

I looked on line and I don’t see a way to see what firmware version is in the DL32. And as I was writing this just now I thought doesn’t the mixer it is hooked up to display the version of the connected devices? Is firmware version 1.8 required for it to work with the WING? According to the release notes it doesn’t look like it is.

I am thinking of buying a 150’ length of cat6a shielded cable with stranded wire. I am looking for ruggedness and flexibility. I just did a graduation where I had 220 feet of analog snake cable and it would have been better to have a little bit more length. This was the exception and not the rule. I figured I could use an EtherCon coupler and use the 150 foot length and add a 100 foot length for those times I need a little bit more distance. The company I do most of me freelance work with has one or two 100’ long EtherCon cables if I need to use them. Most of the time about 120’ would work just fine and I don’t want to always have to use an EtherCon coupler so that is why I would get the 150’ length.

Which brings me to another question. I have a client (a Church) that presently has an X32 with 2 Behringer SD16 stage boxes. And they are using a bunch of P16 personal mixers and the 16 channel limit on them is making things too difficult to deal with. We are using mix bus sends to try and help but they want to be able to control some of those things separately that are now combined in a mix bus. So we are talking about using an X32 rack as a monitor mixer. I did this in another church and it is working fine for them. But their system is a little bit different. Some of their present gear may be moved to another church they are possibly starting. So if that happens they may move up to a WING and use a DL32 or DL16 stage boxes. A bunch of their inputs are wireless mics and instruments on Direct Boxes. And please correct me if I am wrong but I don’t see a benefit to the Midas preamps for these inputs. But I have never compared the preamps between these devices. I have been using Midas M32 with analog snakes for most shows I have been involved in lately.

[GaryH]

@KMaxwell The stagebox firmware version doesn't show up on the mixer afaik. You kind of just have to do the update process with the DL32. At one point (1.7) you could tell by the fan being able to be turned off via the front panel or not, as that function was newly added. Hold the DL32 MUTE button during power-on to disable the fan. If that worked, you had 1.7, if not you needed to update to 1.7. With 1.8 I don't think there is anything particularly unique to check. I guess you could see if it was 1.7 at least. I would just update it with 1.8 to be sure. It's pretty painless and takes not much time.

EDIT:

With the cable, I have tested Cat7 and 8 to lengths well beyond 150 feet (up to 350 recently) so they might be a consideration. I like both for their increased flexibility and their ruggedness, besides the additional shielding which can't be beat. You should be able to get 150 feet plus buy 2 ethercons for under $70

With regard to preamps and wireless, you probably don''t NEED to use the premium ones but if you had them and they were empty anyway I probably would.

Have fun with the DL32!...it might be one of the best buys I ever made.

[KMaxwell]

Is that $70 for Cat7 or Cat8 and is the CAT cables you tested stranded or solid wires? Is this the ruggedized versions? The main usage of this will be for outdoor concerts with the cable laying in the grass except of a sidewalk crossing and for that the cable will be in Bumblebee cable protectors. We have used the analog snakes this way for years without any problems. Do you have a link for a place to buy the Cat cables? And does the Cat7 and Cat8 work with the pull thru RJ45 connectors? Online they indicate that Cat7 is for longer runs then Cat8, and feeling regarding that? Also is the Stranded conductors only meant for shorter runs?

[GaryH]

Cat7....Cat8 is hard to find over 100 feet that is reasonably priced. Structure wise they are VERY similar anyway. The one I was referring to is stranded. Even if not it is still very flexible. Yes and ruggedized. All my own were made using pull through rj45's. Just make sure you buy rj45's for Cat6 with larger diameter hole size. Cat7 specific rj45's no, won't fit in an ethercon AND are way too expensive. If you fully trim back the plastic anti snag protectors around the rj45 ends (see the area in red in the attached pic) you can just use the rj45's that come with the cable, then adding the Neutrik Ethercons specific for premade cable. Using extra CARE, going slowly and a utility knife, it's really not too bad. I've split up lengths and kept one side with stock on then added my own on the other ends. I have also cut off the stock ones and just used my own. You could then use any type ethercon. I put them all on extension cord reels for easy deployment and wind up. I think you would be pleased, but ya never know, I can't guarantee your results.

LINK:


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[KMaxwell]

Cat7....Cat8 is hard to find over 100 feet that is reasonably priced. Structure wise they are VERY similar anyway. The one I was referring to is stranded. Even if not it is still very flexible. Yes and ruggedized. All my own were made using pull through rj45's. Just make sure you buy rj45's for Cat6 with larger diameter hole size. Cat7 specific rj45's no, won't fit in an ethercon AND are way too expensive. If you fully trim back the plastic anti snag protectors around the rj45 ends (see the area in red in the attached pic) you can just use the rj45's that come with the cable, then adding the Neutrik Ethercons specific for premade cable. Using extra CARE, going slowly and a utility knife, it's really not too bad. I've split up lengths and kept one side with stock on then added my own on the other ends. I have also cut off the stock ones and just used my own. You could then use any type ethercon. I put them all on extension cord reels for easy deployment and wind up. I think you would be pleased, but ya never know, I can't guarantee your results.

LINK:


Pic:

I’m not sure I really should do something I do a lot. I look at the worst reviews of items on the internet first. I can usually tell the difference between the people that are using a product wrongly and the ones who actually know what they are talking about.

I looked at the link for that Ethernet cable on Amazon. And I looked at the worst ratings. One person stripped the cable back and showed what it looked like under the jacket. It wasn’t good. It looks great in the listing but that picture doesn’t look like it is a well-constructed cable. I was going to buy it and say for that price if it doesn’t work I am not out much money. But it is just enough that I am looking into buying from a reputable dealer and I am going to terminate the cable myself. I have terminated a LOT of cables even shielded Ethernet cables. What’s the saying? Buy once cry once.

Thank you for all of your input and help.

[GaryH]

FWIW, I just saw that review/picture, doesn’t look like any cat7 I’ve ever seen! I don't see any of the shielding layers or a ground wire, seems suspect to me. Also 82% of nearly 900 people gave it 5 star rating. I get it though, you want to be confident in your choice. (I also just looked and It CAN be returned for a full refund if it doesn't meet your expectations) There are also many more Cat7 cable options out there, this but one at a nice price. Cat7 is not for everyone for sure, I’m also sure what you end up doing will be just fine.

[GaryH]

@KMaxwell I looked back at my amazon purchases and found the one I actually use (I bought almost 2 years ago 5/30/19) so I CAN vouch for it working just fine. Around the same money also...again FWIW

[KMaxwell]

I got 150’ of Cat6a ruggedized shielded with stranded conductors. It has braided shield and each pair is foil shielded. The pairs aren’t twisted as tight as some Cat5e shielded cable I have and that surprised me. In each pair of this Cat6a cable the second wire the white/color are all just white. The only way that you know it is white/orange is it is twisted with the orange and in the same foil shield as the orange wire. The RJ45 8P8C connectors I got are specifically for stranded/solid conductors and are the EZ version. I was a bit disappointed in the EZ version, probably because I have terminated so many of the standard and shielded RJ45 that it seems harder to use the EZ version. The stranded wire doesn’t help much in this regard because it is so much more flexible then the solid wire it flops around too much. One of the supposed advantages of the EZ pass thru version is you can see that you have them in the right order by color. But if half of the wires are just white you lose part of that benefit. I used some colored markers and put the appropriate color strip on the white wire. But by the time I had them threaded thru the RJ45 the marker had rubbed off of the white wires.

This Cat6a cable has 2 rubber jackets a thicker one and then a thinner one close to the wires. This cable is so thick that I had to trim the cable clamp / strain relief so it would work. That part also has a tab that looks like it is intended to hold down the locking tab on the RJ45 but as I was assembling one with it plugged into an EtherCon coupler that part slipped and it was hard to get to the release tab and get it out of the coupler. So after that I cut off that tab on the RJ45 connectors like I had in the past.

I have it hooked up between the WING and the DL32 and it seems to be working fine. I am going to run a SMAART test from input to output and see how it tests. I don’t know how useful that test will be but I just want to run it anyway.

[GaryH]

@KMaxwell Do you have continuity ethercon end to ethercon end? You didn't mention how you managed the shield grounding to the rj45 case. It's the most important step based on results from my recent Brian Wynn recreations. Also for future reference, there are ez type shielded rj45's available out there with a staggered and wider diameter (1.20 instead of 1.10) hole pattern. They handle stranded data wires and larger gauge wires much more easily. Also who made the cable you decide to with?

[KMaxwell]

@KMaxwell Do you have continuity ethercon end to ethercon end? You didn't mention how you managed the shield grounding to the rj45 case. It's the most important step based on results from my recent Brian Wynn recreations. Also for future reference, there are ez type shielded rj45's available out there with a staggered and wider diameter (1.20 instead of 1.10) hole pattern. They handle stranded data wires and larger gauge wires much more easily. Also who made the cable you decide to with?

The cable is Eurocable I got it thru a distributor that I have been dealing with for years, Redco Audio. It feels very flexible and rugged. I tested for continuity between the shells and it was solid, I got the Nickel shell ones. I don’t like the black ones because I tested someone’s premade EtherCon cable with black shells (I don’t think they were Neutrik versions) and I didn’t get continuity till I disassembled them and scraped off the black coating on the inside of the shell. The RJ45 connectors are the type with the external ground clamp. So I gathered the braided shield together under that clamp and clamped it, then I folded that up to the RJ45 housing and I soldered it there. I have always soldered the drain wire (or the ground wire) to the RJ45 connectors when I terminate this kind of cabling.

I also made one EtherCon cable with some install type of Cat5e shielded cable I had left over from an install. If the scrap pieces are of any usable length I don’t throw them out I save them for future use. On that I used the RJ45 version that came with the crimper set that I borrowed it has a little piece that has the offset holes. It doesn’t pass thru the end of the RJ45 it is an alignment assist thing that snaps into the RJ45. I didn’t like that version. When I used it with this solid wire the holes are too big and they didn’t stay in place and I had to cut off the first crimp because it wasn’t right.

I really like the cable tester that I borrowed from one of the sound companies that I do a lot of work with. It is a Siemon STM-8. It has shown me wiring errors on cables that other people have made. I am going to get an EtherCon pass thru chassis connectors so I can plug that into the tester with an RJ45 jumper. I used a Neutrik EtherCon coupler to do that on one end of the cable when testing things so that should work (on the other end) for what I want to do.

Thank you for all of your help and input.

Last night I didn’t get around to testing the WING and DL32 combination with SMAART, the thunder storm worried me enough that I just unplugged everything.