Connect shielded ethernet cable to Cat5e ethernet Infrastructure

Audio Systems
1

Maybe 18 years ago just as Cat 6 was being introduced here in the UK; I decided to stay with the established technology that I used at work and wired my house utilising Cat 5e cable, Cat 5 patch panels etc. I wired the property using the ANSI termination standard 568B. This installation was done using a basic RJ45 punch down tool and RJ45 cable tester to confirm continuity of each connection. All infrastructure cabling is point to point (no joins) and routed under a voided floor pretty well separated from the mains cabling). At the time UK homes did not normally have an ethernet infrastructure and all I invisaged was the future use for telephony (using maybe CISCO VOIP) and PC/Laptop/printer communication (I hated – and still do – WiFi). Of course, Roon did not exist.

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My question is “From a (primarily) technical perspective can I happily connect any shielded cable (e.g. CAT6A F/UTP) to this basic Cat5e infrastructure, without the possibility of introducing noise to primarily my Rossini based system. This question applies to connections at either end of the house wiring. Bear in mind the infrastructure is old and I’m sure my RJ45 connections are well oxidised. My communications cabinet (Router, switch, NUC, NAS etc) is the other end of the house to the main system (Rossini and Clock, amps, speakers etc).

2

If shielded CAT 6 is ungrounded, I can’t see it introducing any more noise than your CAT5e infrastructure.

There may be some capacitance between an ungrounded CAT 6 shield and the wires within it, but with balanced signalling, I can’t see this being an issue. If anything, any noise induced on the cable will be spread more evenly across the pairs - balancing out.

If the CAT 6 cable is grounded, I wouldn’t do so at both ends and I suspect I’d NOT want to ground the cable at the Rossini end (I’d be inclined to have the shield grounded at the switch, not the device).