Van Damme TourCat Flexible CAT6a Cable — 268466000
The Van Damme TourCat CAT6A 268466000 is a flexible screened CAT6a cable built for professional AV and touring environments that demand 10 Gigabit performance in the field without sacrificing the handling characteristics that make a cable practical to deploy and retrieve repeatedly. As the CAT6a tier of Van Damme’s TourCat range, the 268466000 steps beyond standard Gigabit capability and delivers a future-ready network cable for projects where bandwidth headroom, dual screening, and physical durability all need to be present in the same product.
This is the MKII version of the Van Damme TourCat CAT6a — a significant redesign over the original that brings a polyurethane outer jacket, lower signal loss, lower capacitance, more controlled impedance, and lower DC resistance. For AV integrators and contractors specifying cable for high-density Dante networks, video-over-IP infrastructure, or any Ethernet-based system where the cable will be subjected to regular physical stress, the 268466000 is the correct cable at this performance tier.
CAT6a and Why It Matters for Modern AV Networks
The shift from CAT5e to CAT6a in professional AV infrastructure is driven by two factors: bandwidth and future-proofing. CAT5e handles Gigabit Ethernet comfortably, but as AV systems increasingly carry high-resolution video-over-IP, multi-channel Dante audio, and control traffic on shared network infrastructure, the headroom that CAT6a provides becomes operationally important. The 268466000 is rated for 10G transmission to 60 metres and Gigabit to 75 metres — verified by independent Fluke DTX1800 testing — giving systems the bandwidth they need now while accommodating whatever the next generation of AV-over-IP protocols demands.
For projects specifying Dante, AES67, NDI, or SDVoE, installing CAT6a from the outset removes the need to re-cable when network demands increase. The 268466000 handles all current professional AV protocols with significant headroom to spare.
Dual Screening for Maximum Noise Rejection
Where the CAT5e TourCat uses a single foil screen around all four pairs, the 268466000 uses a two-layer screening architecture: individual aluminium/polyester foil screens around each twisted pair at greater than 125% coverage, plus an overall tinned copper braid screen across the full cable. This S/FTP construction provides substantially better noise rejection than a single-screened F/UTP cable, making it the right choice for installations in electrically demanding environments.
In practice, this means the 268466000 performs reliably in live venues with high-power lighting dimmer infrastructure, near motor controllers and power distribution, in broadcast environments with dense RF activity, and in any situation where a lesser cable would introduce noise, packet errors, or intermittent dropouts. For Dante networks in particular, where audio quality is directly dependent on network integrity, the dual-screened construction is a material advantage over cheaper alternatives.
Stranded Conductors for Repeated Deployment
Like the rest of the TourCat range, the 268466000 uses 7 × 0.16 mm bare oxygen-free copper stranded conductors — AWG 26/7 — rather than the solid conductors found in standard install-grade CAT6a. Solid conductors are appropriate for fixed wall installations pulled once into conduit. Any cable that gets coiled, uncoiled, routed across a stage, packed into a touring case, and redeployed needs stranded conductors to prevent the conductor fatigue and eventual fracture that solid cable cannot avoid under repeated mechanical stress.
The polyurethane outer jacket of the MKII 268466000 adds a further layer of physical resilience compared to standard PVC, with better resistance to abrasion, oils, and the mechanical wear that comes from touring and temporary installation use. The overall diameter of 6.40 mm has been kept compact enough to terminate with most standard CAT6a RJ45 connectors and Neutrik EtherCon Cat 6A fittings without requiring oversize tooling.
Verified Performance and Specification – 268466000
The 268466000 carries Class EA compliance and meets TIA/EIA-568-C-2 requirements for Category 6A. Independent Fluke DTX1800 testing confirms 10G channel link performance to 60 metres and Gigabit 1000BaseT performance to 75 metres. The operating temperature range of -20°C to +60°C covers outdoor and temporary installation environments as well as climate-controlled venues, and the bend radius of 8 × overall diameter reflects the flexibility advantage of stranded construction over solid CAT6a alternatives.
Sourcing the Van Damme TourCat CAT6a from Surgesound
Surgesound supplies the Van Damme TourCat 268466000 to AV integrators, systems contractors, consultants, and project managers across Southern Africa. As an authorised Van Damme distributor, Surgesound stocks this cable for direct supply to trade accounts — available per metre for custom assembly lengths or on 100 m reels for bulk project requirements, up to the 500 m maximum reel length.
For projects requiring CAT6a termination hardware, Surgesound also supplies compatible Van Damme oversize CAT6a RJ45 connectors and Neutrik EtherCon Cat 6A fittings to complete the assembly to specification.
Contact Surgesound to discuss pricing, stock availability, and project quantities for the Van Damme TourCat CAT6a range.
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Precision Engineering since 1987
The Van Damme range has been designed, engineered and refined for over three decades as a result of technological advances and customer driven requirements.
This comprehensive and intelligent yet practical range of specialist audio and video cables has achieved premier status simply by being the finest cable range of its type on the open market.
Listening closely to customers and keeping our finger ‘on the pulse’ has afforded us the enviable position of offering our clients what they truly need without compromise.
The highly evolved products in this site are a result of years of keeping ‘in tune’ with our customers coupled with our own refinements and exhaustive research and development into cabling technology.
We have incorporated into the Van Damme range many new and innovative ideas never seen before. These are designed to cater for anything from eco-friendly to user friendly, this largely depending on whether it is an architectural specification or the rigours of touring.
What we believe we have created are truly elegant cabling solutions for a vast array of applications.
This is why Van Damme is employed so confidently on the stages, studios and screens across the world.
We feel our client list says it all.
