Cabling & Topology

The Q-SYS network must meet the following cabling, hop count, network diameter, and backbone bandwidth requirements.

  • 1000Base-T gigabit Ethernet over Category 5e cable
  • 8P8C modular connectors (RJ45)
  • ASNI/TIA-568-B.2 wiring pin-out

No more than 5 hops are allowed between any two points (3 or less is recommended) with up to 100 meters between switches. Hop count is defined as how many switches there are between two system nodes. Network diameter is the measurement between the two nodes with the longest physical path in the network. When possible, position the Q-SYS Cores towards the center of the network to minimize switch hop count.

Note: You can use 10 Gigabit in place of 1 Gigabit while following the 1 Gigabit design rules.

Since all Q-SYS equipment is 1000BASE-T, the diameter of a 1-hop network is limited to 200 meters by the two 100 meter 1000BASE-T CAT-5e cables leading into the single Ethernet switch in a 1-hop scenario.

The maximum allowed diameter for a 2-hop network is 35 kilometers.

The longest path in a 3-hop core-switch configuration can be no longer than 29 kilometers.

Tip: If performance issues are observed, consider connecting Q-SYS Core processors to the core switch of the network.

The longest path in a 4-hop core-switch configuration can be no longer than 22 kilometers.

Tip: If performance issues are observed, consider connecting Q-SYS Core processors to the core switch of the network.

The maximum allowed diameter for a 5-hop network is 15 kilometers.

Tip: If performance issues are observed, consider connecting Q-SYS Core processors to the core switch of the network.

Audio Streams

  • 1-Gigabit backbone bandwidth for systems not utilizing audio stream redundancy (i.e., no LAN B connections).
  • 1-Gigabit backbone bandwidth on each network for installations using separate networks for redundancy.
  • 2-Gigabit backbone bandwidth required for installations using redundant connections to a single audio network.

Video Streams

Refer to the Clocking, Audio, Video, & Control topic for bandwidth and Inter-Switch Link (ISL) considerations for NV-32-H network AV streams.

These diagrams show examples of two tier and three tier switch architectures. The switch stack assumes a true back plane interconnect that typically is measured in the nanoseconds delay domain with no packet loss and very high bandwidth capacity. When possible, position the Q-SYS Cores towards the center of the network to minimize switch hop count.