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Cheap headphones to practise recabling on ?

post #1 of 14
9/24/11 at 6:12am
Thread Starter 

Hey guys, the holiday season is coming for me and I've decided to learn how to make my own DIY gear, I'm confident with soldering resistors but when I opened a $5 cheap headphone I released how the cables were connected to the drivers. It seems like if I was not careful, the soldering iron could destroy the drivers. So I feel like I'll need to do some practising on cheap headphones first. Is the KSC75 a good practising headphone for recabling ? If its not, can you recommend me something else cheap to practise on ? Preferably good sounding since I'll be giving the finished result to a friend

 

Thanks in advance atsmile.gif

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post #2 of 14
9/24/11 at 12:01pm

Just be quick with your soldering iron and allow time to cool. Basically cool to the touch. Usually I desolder, cool, solder left, cool, and solder ground. Most people use heatsinks but have no alligator clips with big pieces of copper laying around

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post #3 of 14
9/24/11 at 8:02pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pingupenguins View Post

Just be quick with your soldering iron and allow time to cool. Basically cool to the touch. Usually I desolder, cool, solder left, cool, and solder ground. Most people use heatsinks but have no alligator clips with big pieces of copper laying around



Thanks, I think you've just cut my research time down to half beerchug.gif

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post #4 of 14
9/24/11 at 8:08pm

You can try either of the items below to desolder the stock wires off the headphones. 

 

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062744

 

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062745

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post #5 of 14
9/24/11 at 8:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by flargosa View Post

You can try either of the items below to desolder the stock wires off the headphones. 

 

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062744

 

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062745


 

Thanks for the replie, I've used desolder braids before and I am impressed with their performance. The Vacuum thing looks interesting, I'll check out my local stores for something like that. 

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post #6 of 14
9/24/11 at 8:14pm

superluxes are good too

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post #7 of 14
9/24/11 at 8:20pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by punks15 View Post

superluxes are good too



Thanks but the superlux are not exactly dirt cheap (<$30), but I'll just get one to check them out, they could make very good housing for driver transplants if I ever wanted to try something crazier than recabling tongue_smile.gif

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post #8 of 14
9/24/11 at 8:42pm

What a disaster it was for me and the KSCs, i didn't even use flux and i think i used a bad tip, the metal plate on the driver seemed to fall off completely and i definitely should not have bothered with the 75ohm resistor i heard about. Then one of the cables popped off the Neutrik plug, so i had to get back in there and used too much solder, oh man i won't try it again until i have the little helping arms because i had to use my mouth at some point with no one to help me. blink.gif Good thing everything is pretty cheap, then i hear some people say it doesn't even really make a big difference.

 

When popping off the plastic grills from the KSC does anyone know a definite method to avoid touching the driver? It seems like with every pair i've tried it on i end up with a buzzing noise in one of the earphones............i didn't even know desolder braid existed.....

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post #9 of 14
9/24/11 at 9:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Astrozombie View Post

What a disaster it was for me and the KSCs, i didn't even use flux and i think i used a bad tip, the metal plate on the driver seemed to fall off completely and i definitely should not have bothered with the 75ohm resistor i heard about. Then one of the cables popped off the Neutrik plug, so i had to get back in there and used too much solder, oh man i won't try it again until i have the little helping arms because i had to use my mouth at some point with no one to help me. blink.gif Good thing everything is pretty cheap, then i hear some people say it doesn't even really make a big difference.

 

When popping off the plastic grills from the KSC does anyone know a definite method to avoid touching the driver? It seems like with every pair i've tried it on i end up with a buzzing noise in one of the earphones............i didn't even know desolder braid existed.....

Sorry to hear that. Theres a lot of people modding those drivers so maybe you could find one of their tear down threads ? 
 

 

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post #10 of 14
9/25/11 at 12:24am

Skullcandy makes the Titan's which  you can tear down nicely since they are housed in aluminium. Pretty cheap. $25 on amazon. Other than that you can try the Smokin buds but they are slightly harder but a lot cheaper. I did a pair and it was a little complicated but i've gotten good at my recabling.

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post #11 of 14
9/25/11 at 12:46am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pingupenguins View Post

Skullcandy makes the Titan's which  you can tear down nicely since they are housed in aluminium. Pretty cheap. $25 on amazon. Other than that you can try the Smokin buds but they are slightly harder but a lot cheaper. I did a pair and it was a little complicated but i've gotten good at my recabling.



Hmm IEM seems a bit small for first timers like me, although other low end skullcandies could be good. 

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post #12 of 14
9/25/11 at 4:21pm

You don't necessarily have to practice on headphones, you can practice desoldering and soldering wire  to any random metal object.  That is the toughest part, as you want to do this as quickly as possible to avoid driver damage.  

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post #13 of 14
9/25/11 at 11:52pm

I found the SR60s to be a walk in the park with respect to recabling. I was able to do it with virtually no soldering experience (although I had someone experienced help me). They are very easy to take apart; just hit the side with hot air from a hair dryer for about 30 seconds to melt the glue, and then they just pull right apart. Not to mention they sound excellent as well smily_headphones1.gif

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post #14 of 14
9/26/11 at 12:08am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by calipilot227 View Post

I found the SR60s to be a walk in the park with respect to recabling. I was able to do it with virtually no soldering experience (although I had someone experienced help me). They are very easy to take apart; just hit the side with hot air from a hair dryer for about 30 seconds to melt the glue, and then they just pull right apart. Not to mention they sound excellent as well smily_headphones1.gif



The SR60 doesn't fit my budget but it would indeed make a great pair of cans to practise on. There is also a massive modding community for it too. atsmile.gif

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