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[James Cotton]

Does anyone think theres an advantage to using the cat6 NE8FDX-P6 over the cat5 NE8FDP?

It all depends on how much movement goes on in the back of your racks.
If you're in there often and for example coiling up a power cable and stuffing it in the back then the PCBs on the older CAT5 connections are a bit fragile.
I've lost a couple due to them taking an impact in transit from something loose in the back of the rack, PCB torn away from the connector.
I think the soldered connections were still fine but the anchors from connector shell to board had gone, they got swapped out once that had happened.

If your racks don't see much change or movement inside they'll be fine.

NE8FPDs are plenty rugged from the outside but the new CAT6 ones are much better at the back.
They're the only Neutrik brand connector I've had that has been damaged in any way in over 30 years (and I must have thousands of various types).
If it weren't for the cost I'd swap out all of my NE8FDPs for NE8FDX-P6s just on ruggedness grounds.

[frank kayser]

Probably stating the obvious, but it caught me out.
Cat5e and Cat6 individual conductors are of different wire size...
Cat 5e uses 24-26 AWG wire, while cat6 uses 22-24 AWG wire.
I could not reliably crimp Cat5e cable in a RJ45 designed for Cat6 (high quality connectors)
I can't tell you how many connectors I wasted until I looked it up... D'Oh!
Bought the connector package labeled Cat5e han have not had a bad crimp since.

[Thomas Dameron]

Probably stating the obvious, but it caught me out.
Cat5e and Cat6 individual conductors are of different wire size...
Cat 5e uses 24-26 AWG wire, while cat6 uses 22-24 AWG wire.
I could not reliably crimp Cat5e cable in a RJ45 designed for Cat6 (high quality connectors)
I can't tell you how many connectors I wasted until I looked it up... D'Oh!
Bought the connector package labeled Cat5e han have not had a bad crimp since.

Thanks Frank, that's a good point.  For me, if I decide to use cat6 panel mounts it would be strictly for the feedthrough variant.  I'm pretty squarely convinced that the punch downs aren't right for my application.

thomas d.

[Bob Vaughan]

Having spent the last 5 weeks auditing and repairing a bunch of classroom A/V system upgrades, each of which includes a pair of wall plates with Cat5 (110 punchdown) and Cat6a (IDC) types, I can safely say that I would NEVER spec any punchdown or IDC type Ethercon for ANY application, until they completely redesign the (virtually nonexistent) strain reliefs. We are reinforcing them with ty-wraps, but we still bite our nails every time we have to open or close a wall plate. We have had to replace several of the cat5 types as we are having trouble getting a good connection on the 110 blocks using industry standard punchdown tools.

Using anything other than a feedthru type Ethercon in a portable application is just begging for trouble.

[ProSoundWeb Community]