There have been lots of private messages about recabled Denon headphones, so here's a little guide to components and recabling.
L-R: Denon DJ DN-HP500, Denon AH-P372W, AH-D1000.
All headphones have a 1/8 Techflex jacket (expands to 1/4). DN-HP500 have a green/black mesh over Japanese heat-shrink, they're single-entry, so they don't mind a thicker cable. AH-P372 have a pearlescent jacket which everyone adores, here's another photo.
AH-D1000 have yellow jacket over dual-entry twisted pair cables.
AH-D1001 recabled, Techflex jacket only over twisted pair cable.
Detail of AH-D1001 cables.
Material/Store Links
Techflex jackets are on sale here, there're lots of colours, and note that they're not all the same. Black and pearlescent jackets are flat/round pop-up, yellow and green/black are real round. Black and white heat-shrink are sold by the same store, here's a link. The pearlescent (shiny, o-o-o) mesh is transparent polyetylene with glitter foil, and it's not as resistant as other jackets. It will get holes from cigarettes, zippers, etc. But pretty.
Some plugs were recycled from Denon AH-D1000, AH-D1001 have Neutrik NTP3RC angled plugs. These are on sale at Markertek, Mouser, etc. Neutrik angled plugs are good for the headphones themselves, and Neutrik straight plugs/sockets will do for extension. The cable is AWG 30 silver-plated twisted pair from Navships. He used to sell 50-ft. packages, but now he sells 25-ft. only. 25 ft. might be enough for a single dual-entry set, and it's always nice to have spare for extensions and such, so get two packs. AWG 30 is the thinnest calibre there is, and it's about the only kind of wire that works for DN-HP500 (Mogami and Canare quad cables are likely too thick; Canare is for sure).
There're two cables: the main cable that goes to the left cup, and a single pair that goes to the right cup. Yes, it's only one pair for the headband/right-cup cable, should've been two pairs, but they won't fit easily (it's a tad difficult to poke through a single pair).
The main cable is three pairs. Left positive, right positive, ground. Each channel uses a pair (two wires twisted together). You can also use a straight wire for ground, but hey, it's a separate order. So: cut three lengths of cable (a roll-up meter helps here). It's always better to cut a bit longer than necessary, so there's spare length for mistakes, and internal wiring.
You'll have to mark all the wire pairs. E. g. get green, black, red paint (or markers, or whatever there is). You can do with two paint flasks - one for right positive, one for left positive. Ground can remain uncoloured.
First, burn/take teflon off the ends of the wires. Teflon doesn't ignite, but it does char. It's toxic when burnt, so keep nose and eyes away. And, twist the exposed metal ends of each pair's wires together.
Paint both ends of pairs (not the exposed parts, just the isolation - a long coat, something like 6-10 cm., to ensure paint remains after squeezing through heat-shrink). Allow paint to dry.
Finally, weave the wire pairs together.
Cut a length of heat-shrink isolation. Remember that you can cut both the jacket and the heat-shrink once the cable is together, removing any extra length. Then push the cable into the heat-shrink isolation (you can fold the pushing end of the cable to have it come through easily). Then worm the Techflex mesh over the heat-shrink, in the same fashion as socks. Once everything's together, you can solder the main cable to the plug.
That's all for the main cable. You don't have to paint the headband cable as it's just one pair, and there everything's obvious (e. g. white is ground, orange is positive).
DN-HP500 are a bit tricky to recable. This is because they've another cable going through the headband. The headphones are no longer here, but. The headband has to be taken apart, then the steel band taken out. The original cable has to be cut (and eventually desoldered, but it's easier to cut it from inside the cups first) and taken out of the cups. Then you remove the headband, and take the steel band with the cable out. Then remove the cable and the adhesive tape it's glued with to the steel band. Then the happy game of inserting the wires begins. First, cut an appropriate length of cable (one pair, two wires). Next, attach it to the steel band by the middle (it's better to have an extra length of wire than try to cut an exact length and later find out it's not enough). Insert the steel band into the soft headband. And try pushing the wires through the cable channels in the lower headband, through to the cups. Straighten and angle (or re-twist to tighten) the end that's going to be inserted - that may help a bit. Solder both ends of the cable once they're inside the cups.
And here's a photo of the left cup, wire terminals. Green is left, red is right, black is ground. Take some concise photos so you know what is where, or draw a connection diagram for when you're going to solder. Then remove the main cable. Just poke with the iron and pull on the wires, one-by-one. It's better not to keep the iron on solder for long, as the plastic can start melting, and the solder can splash.
Solder the main cable first. You don't have to remove the Foster solder unless the solder job is messy (too many iron pokes), so it can be reused. Keep the iron clean (e. g. unscorched) and avoid touching the plastic. Iron can be cleaned of smelter smolder by a stone or sandpaper.
Once the right-cup cable is pushed through the cups and the headband, you can try poking the wires without soldering them on. Desolder the cuts of the original headband cable. Then solder on the headband cable. Voila - the tricky job is done.
One note on microphonics... They say this cable is microphonic, but well... First of all, it's microphonic when there's no music playing. And when there's no music playing, the headphones are usually off ears. Second, it's not microphonic coated with heat-shrink. By the way, heat-shrink doesn't have to be shrunk - just use it as isolation. When shrunk, it does look bulky and sort of ugly. And makes the cable stiffer.
An anti-microphonics trick is an extra-short cable (40-50 cm.) to player in shirt/vest pocket or a necklace pouch. But then the extension has to be long.
Edited by Seidhepriest - 12/15/11 at 2:15am
