Recabling M50's, Need help, First time.

The link (sticky) at the top of the DIY page will show you most of what you need to know.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/how...ep-pics-50729/

You will need to determine which wire is which in the cable. Do you have a meter (DMM) with continuity check? If so, you can cut the bad plug off, leaving some cable on it. You can strip the individual wires of the cable still attached to the plug, and using the meter, determine what wire is what (L, R, gnd) by ohming each wire out to the tip, ring and sleeve of the plug. Tip is L channel, ring is R channel, and the sleeve is ground. Then it is a simple matter of putting the plug on.

i would suggest goolging and reading. everything mentioned above are basic skills needed to do what you're asking. option b would be sending them to someone that can do it for you..

By "meter" Pars means a Digital Multimeter, or DMM. A DMM usually measures volts, amps, and ohms, which is voltage, resistance, and current. A "continuity tester" is a simpler type of ohmmeter - it won't tell you how much resistance there is, just if there is a connection from one point to another. Lately, a DMM is inexpensive enough that few people still have dedicated continuity testers.

If you don't have one, then you don't have the tools to do this job.

You'll also need a soldering iron and rosin core solder. Don't use acid core solder on electronics. Again, if you don't have any handy, you don't have the tools for the job.

If you have a continuity tester, you can use that. If you have an ohmmeter, you can check for infinite reistance versis no resistance. Infinite resistance is no connection, no resistance means a wire.

Most headphone connectors have three connections, one at the very tip, one that's a ring past that, and then the third which is the rest of the connector. These are called "tip", "ring" and "sleeve".

There will be three different colors of wire inside the cable. One is tip, one is ring, and one is sleeve. You just have to know which is which. (Some have four wires, two of which will be ground, and both should go to the sleeve.)

Your old plug will have the right connections made to these points. Pars is suggesting you cut the cable a little ways - an inch or two should do it - before the old plug. Then strip off some of the insulation on that little tail and figure out which wire in the cable goes to each of those connections. Use your ohmmeter or continuity tester to figure out which wire in the cable leads to which part on the old connector. Take notes.

Once you know which wire goes where, you can solder a new connector on to the end of the cable, just like the old one was. (You don't even really need to know which is left, right, and ground as long as they are conencted to the new conenctor the same way they were connected to the old one.)

If this is too much for you, any local electronics repair place should be able to do this for you. They'll probably want a surprising amount an hour to do the work, though.

Too much, 10 minutes, respectively.

Shame about the multimeter; Canadian Tire was selling a $60 Mastercraft model for $20. I nabbed one of the four last ones in Richmond for my planned M^3/Gamma1 build. Sale ended today.

You might want to educate yourself about electronics. It'll save you money, it's handy for other work, and it's good for a hobby dealing with electronics. Alternatively, you can just find a friend who's got enough electrical knowhow to do the job. There ought to be somebody, if you're not willing to learn/do it yourself.

Last time I had electronics repaired, they wanted $85 per hour, in half hour increments. The phone book is going to be your friend on finding a place. Any electronics or TV repair place will be able to do what is needed.

If you're lucky, and it's a small shop that's not too busy, they can do it while you wait. If not, it may be a few days till it shows up in their queue.

I'd look for a smaller shop, myself, as they are likely to give better customer service and be more willing to do a small job.

Ok, dont listen to the guys saying you need all this technical equipment just to solder on a new 3.5mm jack. First off, buy a new jack from your local radio shack'ish store.

Second, cut the old 3.5mm jack off where the cable goes into the plug.

Third, follow this guide. How-to: Change your headphone's minijack! (now w/videos) - Headphones - abi>>forums

Just what I needed...