{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"AV SuperFriends: Off the Rails 139 - A little confidence is a lot of ignorance","description":"Recorded June 5, 2026 This week on Off the Rails, we descend into the glamorous, finger-burning, cable-stretching world of Layer 1: the place where every brilliant AV system either starts working\u2026 or quietly dies behind a rack because someone trusted a discount connector. The regular panel is joined by Stacy Kaskon and Brant Mathiason from Neutrik to talk about why physical connectivity still matters, why proper termination is becoming a lost art, and how Neutrik\u2019s new FAST training initiative aims to teach students, techs, integrators, and higher ed AV teams how to build, test, and trust the cables and connections literally holding their systems together. Soldering, RJ45s, fiber, connector standards, classroom durability, InfoComm training, and the eternal truth that no amount of programming will fix a bad cable all make the cut. Then, because this is Off the Rails, the group swaps horror stories about cursed terminations, fiber polished in bucket trucks, cables pulled with pickup trucks, adapters stacked like archaeological layers, and all the other \u201ctemporary\u201d fixes that somehow became load-bearing infrastructure. &amp;nbsp; Neutrik FAST Training contact: fast.training@neutrikgroup.com &amp;nbsp; Connect with our guests:   Stacy Kaskon: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/stacy-kaskon-4435ba2b\/   Brant Mathiason: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/brant-mathiason-a19535b\/   &amp;nbsp; News story discussed:    https:\/\/www.avinteractive.com\/news\/collaboration\/microsoft-sunsets-its-covid-era-teams-together-mode-02-06-2026\/   &amp;nbsp; Alternate show titles:   Singularity of bad ideas   Glob and blob-level soldering   You\u2019re not going to solve a Layer 1 problem with programming   That happens until it can\u2019t any more   One person wears a tutu   &amp;nbsp; We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern\/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; \u2580\u2584\u2580\u2584\u2580 CONTACT LINKS \u2580\u2584\u2580\u2584\u2580 \u25ba Website:  https:\/\/www.avsuperfriends.com \u25ba Twitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/avsuperfriends \u25ba LinkedIn: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/avsuperfriends \u25ba YouTube: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@avsuperfriends \u25ba Bluesky: https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/avsuperfriends.bsky.social \u25ba Email: mailbag@avsuperfriends.com \u25ba RSS: https:\/\/avsuperfriends.libsyn.com\/rss &amp;nbsp; Donate to AVSF: https:\/\/www.avsuperfriends.com\/support ","author_name":"AV SuperFriends","author_url":"https:\/\/www.avsuperfriends.com","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/41565745\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/content\/202720520"}