Coaxial Connections

brad225

brad225

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Joined
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Messages
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Location
Wesley Chapel, FL
I need to change the means by which the coaxial cable enters the house from the Frontier Fios box.

It currently has coax from the box to a splitter on the outside of the house. Then multiple cables to the different locations in the house. I unscrewed one of the connectors and it is clearly discolored and that can't be good for anything.

What I am going to do is to run a new coaxial cable from the box into the house and make the transition to the various rooms in a air-conditioned space to eliminate this issue in the future.

I have looked at both coax splitters and coax taps. Everything that I have read indicates that a tap is superior to a splitter. My thought is to use a tap and divide the signal in to 2 leads. One would go directly to my Music Room. The other would connect to a multi Tap and feed the computer/WIFI router and TV in 4 rooms.

Is this the best approach to my issue or is there a better product to hopefully get the best signal to my music room and a signal to the other locations?

Thanks
Brad
 
My experience with cable company signals is that there's usually more than enough strength present to not have to worry too much about how you do the splitting. What are you doing with the raw signal going to the music room? Since it's not coming off your computer/network branch, I'm assuming just TV. If that's the case you'll have tons of signal, even if you lose over 10dB from multiple splitters. Now, your area may be different than mine, and you may not be getting as strong of a raw signal as I suspect you are. Have you ever had unexplained pixelization of your image or network dropouts when all else was "normal"? If not, I really wouldn't worry.

Even if you're using a dedicated Fios network decoder in the audio room to generate a discrete streaming signal feeding your Synology / Sonictransporter, I wouldn't worry too much. This is one of those cases where the digital nature of streamed signals should work in your favor (i.e. either the bits are recognized as such or they aren't). Dropouts due to low signal strength are going to be of a large enough magnitude that it won't be collapsed soundstage or loss of microdynamics - it'll be silence or clicks and pops.

My home has a single splitter where the service enters the house, and each of those signals are split again by a 3-way unpowered splitter. One of the three branches is stronger than the other two (a 4-way splitter would have 4 equal strength signals). I have tacked yet another splitter on one of the already twice-split signals to serve a seldom-used guest room, and there's absolutely no degradation of signal or picture quality. I have one of the "stronger" branches of the splitter feeding my cable modem and home network (but still the 2nd split from the buried service entrance). My Aurenders are both attached to a router and a gigabit switch, and neither has ever displayed symptoms that might be traced to lack of signal strength.
 
Hi Jeff, thanks for the response.
The coax that terminates in the music room is connected to an ActionTec MoCA adapter that converts the coax to ethernet which intern is connected to my network switch.

My thought was it was better to run directly to the music room rather through the house router then to the room. Whether that is true or not I don't know. My iPad is still connected via WIFI to the router for its access to operate Roon and Qobuz.

In the past 6 weeks we have started getting random pixelization on all of the TV connections. Maybe 3 times in a 4hr period. It could just be that, recently bankrupt Frontier service, has actually found a way to provide less service. :-)

Since Frontier bought out Verizon the service has been much lower quality. That alone, along with the fact that we are at the end of the line for service connections in an area that is currently having 80,000-100,000 homes built doesn't help. Yes, I know that is a ridiculous number but this is the only direction for Tampa to expand. Some of these subdivisions are a "Connected Subdivision" that everything is WIFI controlled in the house.

We have previously had service techs here and they say we are just stuck because of how the trunk lines are laid out.

With that, I am looking for anything I can do to provide the best signal into the house.

I am currently waiting to see if Spectrum Cable will bury a line to reach our office and home that is at the back of 13 acres.

Currently it doesn't appear to be effecting my music streaming from Qobuz so, I can live with the bit of pixelization.

Are you familiar with coax taps rather than coax splitters?
 
A coax tap is a splitter with specific characteristics that may or may not be an advantage in your installation.

A normal 2 way splitter will attenuate each output 3 dB, half the power. In practice they don’t hit this theoretical performance so each output may be 4-6 dB down depending on frequency.

A two way cable tap is asymmetrical. One output (labeled out) will be attenuated very little, maybe 1-2 dB, and the other output, (labeled tap), will be attenuated significantly more , say 10-15 dB.

So you would use a tap if you need most of the signal to go to single location with other ‘taps’ having much lower signal strength, going elsewhere.

You would use a splitter if you want equal level signals going to multiple locations.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks Tom, If that is the case then I need to stay with a splitter.

Are there high quality splitters? Every one I have seen, to include the unit Verizon originally installed, look like a cheap piece of junk.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
I don't know that there's such a thing as an "audiophile approved" coax splitter. They're essentially commodity items, so differences come down to tolerances and build quality. I have had good luck with Antronix products, and so have sought them out the few times I've needed one. They're slightly more expensive than some others, but we're still talking $10 or less. Note that they do have a line of products specifically intended for MoCA signals, so you'll probably want to check those out.

Agree with Tom's explanation of how a tap differs from a splitter. I think of a tap as a way to send a very small amount of signal down one branch, and the much larger remainder down the other(s). It's most commonly used by the cable company to bleed off a specific amount for each home, while letting the "main pipe" retain the other 99%. I don't see your situation as being a good use of a tap. You're looking for as much signal as you can get, everywhere you can.

What you might consider is a coax amplifier. That's basically a plug-in splitter that, well, amplifies the coax. If you're really dealing with a weak signal, one of those might be enough to help. Antronix makes those too. Depending on the gain and how many ports, you're up $30-50 territory now.
 
2FlyingYorkies said:
I don't know that there's such a thing as an "audiophile approved" coax splitter. They're essentially commodity items, so differences come down to tolerances and build quality. I have had good luck with Antronix products, and so have sought them out the few times I've needed one. They're slightly more expensive than some others, but we're still talking $10 or less. Note that they do have a line of products specifically intended for MoCA signals, so you'll probably want to check those out.

Agree with Tom's explanation of how a tap differs from a splitter. I think of a tap as a way to send a very small amount of signal down one branch, and the much larger remainder down the other(s). It's most commonly used by the cable company to bleed off a specific amount for each home, while letting the "main pipe" retain the other 99%. I don't see your situation as being a good use of a tap. You're looking for as much signal as you can get, everywhere you can.

What you might consider is a coax amplifier. That's basically a plug-in splitter that, well, amplifies the coax. If you're really dealing with a weak signal, one of those might be enough to help. Antronix makes those too. Depending on the gain and how many ports, you're up $30-50 territory now.
Click to expand...


I can find one and paint it gold and call it Audiophile Splitter and charge $200 ea LOL
 
Thanks Jeff, I wasn't looking for audiophile approved products. Many of what you see are really cheap looking with bad castings. I will look for Antronix products and see what they offer.
A friend has suggested an amplifier too. I have looked at those and some are for TV signal only not to send to a router. That may be fine depending on how I configure the coax runs. I may try that first before moving everything indoors to see if it might at least give me improvement with the problem.
 
brad225 said:
Thanks Tom, If that is the case then I need to stay with a splitter.

Are there high quality splitters? Every one I have seen, to include the unit Verizon originally installed, look like a cheap piece of junk.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

I like Wilson products - generally high build quality and good performance. After that you get into Mil-Spec components that are very pricey and hard to find.
 
I would hesitate to use an amplifier as cable levels are usually high enough that they may overload an amplifier and cause more harm than good. If you are still having Pixellation issues after you do all this then call the cable company in and they can put one in if they find the levels are your place are too low.
 
My thought was to split the signal and only use the amplifier on the signals that go to the TV locations.
If that doesn't resolve anything I will definitely bring Frontier back in again.
 
That makes sense. For cable modem operation an amplifier can really screw things up because it has to be a special bidirectional amplifier to handle downlink and uplink.
 
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