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Headphone Repair Advice

post #1 of 11
4/26/11 at 9:49am
Thread Starter 

This is my first post here and I'm in need of some advice.

 

I currently own a pair of Bose over ear headphones (they were a gift) and the cord has been torn towards the middle (long story). I have no idea how to go about fixing this.

 

I have attached an image to give you guys an idea of what I'm dealing with. Would it be better to rewire the headphones or to just repair them where the wires tore? I have no experience rewiring and wouldn't know where to start but I do however love to tinker and am fairly good at it.

 

I do not have the money to buy a new pair of headphones because I'm currently in the midst of getting my engineering degree.

 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Headphone Wire

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post #2 of 11
4/27/11 at 12:02pm

You can't just grab an extension cable?  The cable is still replaceable, right?  Just any mini male to mini female cable, whatever length you want.

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post #3 of 11
4/27/11 at 12:36pm
Thread Starter 
Since the cable was cut in the middle the jack is on one of the ends that was torn and the headphones are on the other... I need to either find some way to connect the broken wires, rewire the headphones, or cut off the jack and some how hook it up to the broken wires (I'm not sure how this can be done) and then buy an extension cable.
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post #4 of 11
4/27/11 at 1:23pm

Can you post a close up of those wires in your picture? It looks as though one wire has two colours twisted together, while the other one is is just red. Before you can make the repair you'll need to separate the different colours.

 

Or you could totally recable the headphones with wire that's already separated. That would require opening up the headphones and soldering inside. There is a risk you may damage them accidentally.

 

Here are some links that should help get you started.

 

How to solder two wires together:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/406029/best-way-to-solder-two-wires-together

 

How to solder a 3.5mm plug:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9CpkyKPR_8

 

Here is a recent thread with some info on the Neutrik 3.5mm plug:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/551346/how-this-nuetrik-3-5-jack

 

More tips on DIY cables in general:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/50729/how-to-make-an-interconnect-step-by-step-with-pics

 

Basics of good soldering:

Equipment-- http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/tt01.html

Technique-- http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/tt02.html

 

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post #5 of 11
4/27/11 at 1:37pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by drunkenpoet View Post

Since the cable was cut in the middle the jack is on one of the ends that was torn and the headphones are on the other... I need to either find some way to connect the broken wires, rewire the headphones, or cut off the jack and some how hook it up to the broken wires (I'm not sure how this can be done) and then buy an extension cable.


I asked because my dad has a pair of Bose on-ear headphones and the cable is replaceable.  A few millimeters after the cable exits the cup, it is terminated to a 3.5mm stereo plug.  Then they come with two cables of different lengths to plug into it, both being extension cables, basically.

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post #6 of 11
5/1/11 at 2:34pm
Thread Starter 
Mad Max - I appreciate you trying to help but the over-ear headphones are not constructed that way.

Yoga Flame - Thanks a ton for the links. I'll be sure to look through them when I get some free time after my midterms. I'm not able to get a close up of the wires because my camera is extremely old and the picture would be too blurry. It took me quite a few shots to get the picture I posted above.

One wire has green, copper, and white strands twisted throughout. The white color seems to be frayed along the exposed wire quite a bit.
The other wire has the same looking copper and white strands twisted together with a red strand.

Although I'm not that great at soldering I may risk taking the headphones apart because there already broken anyways. With the fraying wires it might be easier to go about it that way.

Even if I got the wires completely separated I'm guess that I'd have to solder each color together separately, right? Those are some extremely small wires to be dealing with.

Which way do you recommend I go about repairing the headphones? (I'm just asking for your personal opinion, I'm not going to blame anyone but myself if I damage the headphones further).
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post #7 of 11
5/1/11 at 4:37pm

Yes that frayed cable looks quite a mess. It'll be a bother figuring out which colour wire is L, R, ground, and maybe even shield. And then there's the matter of separating the colours and burning off the enamel that coats each coloured strand.

 

Better to open up the headphones, desolder the old cable, and then solder on a new one.

 

A simple replacement cable would be something like this one from Digikey:

stereo cable with 3.5mm plug

 

If you're feeling adventurous you can get some star quad microphone cable and attach your own 3.5mm plug to it instead.

 

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post #8 of 11
5/1/11 at 5:01pm

Why not just repair them color to color, a bit of heat shrink and you're back in business :-)

 

cheers

FRED

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post #9 of 11
5/1/11 at 5:28pm
Thread Starter 
Each wire is extremely small and has a coating on it. I cannot simply just connect the wires together by color. I'm not sure of a way to remove the coating on wires this small.
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post #10 of 11
5/1/11 at 5:42pm

Use a hot soldering iron and solder with flux to tin the wires, the coating burns off as you solder

 

cheers

FRED

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post #11 of 11
5/1/11 at 6:08pm

Start by cutting the cable cleanly about two inches back from where it was broken.

Remover about one inch of the protective outer jacket. You should find three or

four distinct bundles of very fine wire. Each of these bundles should have some

unique color to identify it. The fine wires that make up each bundle are individually

insulated (usually with enamel). This insulation can be burned off with the blue

flame from a lighter. With some solder, shrink tubing and a little patients, you

should be able to solder the cable back together.

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