[jobase]

I want to use my Nuforce Icon as my primary music system in my living room using a pair of Paradigm Atom speakers and therefore need to extend the length of the standard Icon speaker cable. I thought I should use a RJ45 coupler and buy new ready made cables instead of creating my own cables. My question is, what kind of cable should I use? CAT5, CAT5e, CAT6? UTP (unshielded) or FTP (shielded)? I have read somewhere that if the product is not connected to a grounded power outlet, using a shielded cable could result in even more noise/disturbance from the cable compared to an unshielded cable. Could the wrong type of cables even damage the Icon? What kind of cable do you recommend?

[rustydoglim]

Use CAT6. Make sure you leave the pin 1 and pin 8 unconnected and connect the other 6 wires (3 +ve, 3 -ve) correctly according to the spec on Icon product page.

[jobase]

Thanks for the reply but I am not completely satisfied with the answer. My attention is NOT to create my own cable but use the standard speaker cable (RJ45 to banana plug) that came with the Icon and just extend this standard cable with a RJ45 Coupler and an already completed RJ45 to RJ45 cable. If I do like this I don't have to care about what pins to connect, right?

I will go with your recommendation and use a CAT6 cable, but should I use a shielded cable (FTP) or could this disturb the signal or even damage the Icon if I connect it to a non grounded power outlet?

[rustydoglim]

Oh, just use the standard CAT6 cable with the RJ45 coupler.
I don't think it matters if you use the shielded (FTP) or unshielded CAT6 cable.  Just don't connect the shield ground to Icon ground. We don't know if that will cause any ground loop noise. Just leave the shield ground unconnected.