Ethernet Cable Advice

Hi,
I like to listen to iTunes on my stereo in another room. I am thinking of connecting my Airpot Express, located by my stereo in another room, to my iMac computer base station Airport Extreme. I want to use an ethernet cable to avoid the problem of poor reception/frequent dropouts. (Should I connect the Express to the Extreme router or directly to my cable modem which has 4 ethernet jacks? To control the itunes will the Express need to run through the Extreme?) My Extreme is connected to my iMac with a cable.
I estimate the length of the cable run would be approximately 35-45 feet. Which type of cable do I use for this?
Thank you all in advance!

You want cat5e. I would connect it directly to the Airport Extreme as I know everything that apple makes (lately) is gigablt Ethernet. I would bet your Cable modem router is just 10/100 (so I wouldn't plug anything but the extreme into the cable modem and route everything through the extreme.)

45 feet should be fine for cat5e gigabit.

Are you experiencing dropouts? I rarely have dropouts with my Expresses. Is there a lot of interference or other networks around you? My Airport Expresses are about 50 feet away from my time capsule and I have no problem streaming music to any of them.

Sorry, but isn't Cat 6 gigabit spec?

5e will handle gigabit speeds in principle but for the pennys differance in price I'd go for Cat 6.

That said, either cable will exceed the purpose you need it for.

TBH i'm suprised the N wireless connection between them doesn't work.....

I have had dropouts. The dropouts come anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hour intervals. Lately, iTiunes has had some poor behavior. I like to listen to radio stations on itunes. Often, lately, iTunes will just stop playing. I have to force quit iTines and restart iTunes to get it going again. I wonder if this is related to the latest version of iTunes.
Also, when the microwave is used or a cordless phone is used (which is often) there are dropouts.

Have you tried setting it to 5GHz? It probably will be worse as you are inside. There is also a setting for interference robustness which you should try to turn on. If Itunes is stopping - this may not be the link - it may be itunes. I have also lately been experiencing itunes going south on me as well. It mostly stays up but at some point it does go down - especially with extended listening.

If you can find cat6 with a comparable price to cat5e then cat6 is guaranteed to be gigabit. In real world testing - as long as you aren't running maximum distance 100 meters or 328 feet, and you aren't running over a bunch of electrical equipment that can disrupt electrical signals cat5e is fine and it costs you less. At the end of the day cat6 does have more bandwidth and if you find it for cheap - go for it - I've just found cat5e to work fine and it costs me less.

Thanks for all of your help!!!