Guys,
I'm taking over a system that a customers of mine have in their house they just purchased, here's what I need to do. I need to get the audio from a smart tv over to a closet that has a Sonos Connect/Amp combo running their whole house audio. The only cable running from TV to closet is a cat5. I was thinking about using a decent audio extender but all the ones I've researched are for Toslink or Coaxial digital connections. I of course have an optical out on the TV, but only an analog input on the Sonos connect. I've tried sending analog over cat5 with simple baluns but I've never had much luck, usually to much hum in the signal. I'm open to changing the Sonos connect as a source if needed, they have no other Sonos products in their system. How would Heos work as a stand alone source? I see that it has both optical & coaxial inputs, I could then use a good, powered extender to get a digital signal over the cat5

Would there be any advantage using the CAT-5 for Ethernet? Would there be any need for surround sound from the TV? Why do you need a connection from the TV to the audio system?

Send the audio back over the cat5 via optical and then convert the optical to analog.
Make sure to set the audio out to pcm

What analog baling have you tried before? Because I never encountered hums with a decent balun

Btw, why does the connect have digital inputs but the app doesn’t? WTF?

This is where mislabeling of "adaptors" as "baluns" might be what bit you in the ass in the past.

A balun should have infinite resistance between its analog audio input and its CAT output. This is accomplished with a transformer. That gives you ground isolation, the lack of which is probably why other products have given you hum.

An adaptor incorrectly called a balun -- and they exist -- directly connects a hot lead to one wire of a CAT pair and connects that hot lead's ground to the other wire of that pair. No ground isolation results. Hum is likely.

Believe it or not, a car audio device intended to reduce hum might work for you. It's two audio isolation transformers with RCA cables coming out of each end. I think these wholesale in the twenty dollar range. Jensen transformers will do the same thing, more cleanly, with better frequency response and richer pricing.

Unlike "baluns," you won't need one of these at each end. You'll want to see if you get less hum with it at the sending end or at the receiving end.

The less expensive but very good alternative to a Jensen isolator is Edcor.

PAC is one brand of car stereo isolator that works and it's slightly over-wound, so it provides a slight increase to the signal level. It also has input and output labels. I had also used the ones from Radio Shack- if you still have one of their free-standing stores or a Hobby Town, they may have, or could order these (if they still offer it).

Here's a store locator-

[Link: radioshack.com]

If you do need an analog extender, the Transformative Engineering SB-1 is one of the best around.

TV optical out to

[Link: metrahometheater.com]

To

[Link: audiocontrol.com]

To house audio system

[Link: gefen.com]

I came to this thread for Earnie's balun lecture.

Metra Home Theater Analog Audio Extender

Yeah, we all knew it was going to happen

Yep!

Wait...what is this BAYLUN thingy :)