Redesign of Monoprice 8320

As a product design student and a recent audiophile, I've been overcome with the desire to design a build my own set of IEMs. To keep the price of this whole adventure reasonable, I've decided to use the Monoprice 8320 (MEP 933) as the base. The hope is to take the driver out and completely redesign the shell. Maybe make a custom. 

I've been reading up on cables, DIY customs, etc, but am finding myself overwhelmed with information. Ideally I want to have a replaceable cable, but I'm trouble finding a replacement IEM cable and socket for less than $30. The 8320s are only seven bucks, so it hardly makes sense to have a cable costing many times the price of the driver. I found a replacement IEM cable a while back for $20 with sockets for $6, but haven't been able to locate them since. 

Additionally, I have some questions regarding the shape/bends of the soundtube/housing and how that affects the sound. I've read a bit on venting, but any information any of your have on any aspect of IEM design would be greatly appreciated. I've been making my way through the Home-Made IEMs thread, but most of that seems to deal with BA design and tuning rather than dynamic drivers. 

I'll edit this with links to everything regarding the design and materials to keep things organized. I'm a big fan of open source and would love to have this become a collaborative project.

Definites

Driver from the MEP 933 from Monoprice. For the price, no other IEM comes close. 

Possibilities

Cabling

Cables salvaged  from MEElectronics M2. Reviews give the cables high marks for only $8 salvaged they look like a good deal. Will have to order a pair in to see how the cable is. 

Next on the agenda

Cable connectors

If the M2 cable turns out to be the cheapest option for the basis of the removable cable, then there is still the issue of finding a male and female connector that is small light and secure. Standard 2-pin would work, though anything else of equal quality is a possibility. 

Thanks for the tip on the cabling. That looks like a good basis and significantly cheaper than the $36 a piece I would be paying for an Aurisonics cable. As for the d-sub jumpers, I think they're a bit too big to use, and it would be difficult to finish them in a way that would look professional. I'm not totally stuck on the idea of a conventional 2-pin cable. It's just that I have yet to see an alternative that is as simple and professional looking as it. I don't have the means to do a lot of custom electronics or molding, so if I can get away with using existing parts I would rather that. That being said, if something can be done that improves on both the look and ergonomics of a 2-pin cable, then I'm all for seeing what can be done. I guess if I decide to use the MEElectronics cabling then I'm going to need to put something on the end of them....hmmm...

School started and I got too busy the finish this. I have the M2s and the 933s. Haven't had the time to get the rest of the stuff. Having the changed the tips on the 933s you get a lot more bass out of them, so I'm suspecting they'll sound even better if I ever get around to making a custom enclosure for them. 

For now I'll probably start by just recabling the 933s. Their cable is terrible. I have never in my life seen something tangle so much. It would tangle less if it was made of fly paper. 

So I ended up recabling them with the MEElectronics M2 cables.....and then losing them a day later. Hopefully someone in my building will return them. However I did manage to get some pictures of most of the process:

Before, with those awful cables.

Open them up with a razor on the corner near the cable, just like the the monoprice thread suggested. Make sure to wedge the blade in all the way around first. If you don't you'll just break plastic off the corner trying to wedge them off. You can't damage the driver because, as you see below, there's an internal lip that will stop your blade. 

Next up is getting the cable off the M2. You can just yank the front off them. 

After you get them open you'll see that the wire has a knot in it. Just snip the wires and untie the knot. You can then just pull the cable out. 

Next step: soldering. I just removed one wire at time from the Monoprice drivers just so I knew I was attaching the right cable in the right place. Just match the colours. 

Now the original cables can be used for what should have been their original purpose: strangling their designer. 

After that it's just putting them back together. Just use some decently powerful adhesive and they should stay together. Now because the cable is much thicker than the original you will have to take out the strain relief. The M2 cable's strain relief doesn't really fit, so this is an area where you can experiment. I tried cutting the strain relief in half then gluing it back together with the cable in the middle, but that failed pretty badly. In the end I just filled the empty space in the casing with more epoxy in the hopes that it would hold. 

Now sadly, I didn't take a picture of the final product because I wanted to test them for a few days to make sure they didn't fall apart before taking a final picture. If they are returned I will update this. Or I might try to find the extra pair of Monoprices I bought and recable them and update this with a better set of pics of that job. 

What I can say is that not only is the M2 cable infinitely better than the original cable in terms of ergonomics, it also matches the Monoprices much better than the original black cable. For less than $20 this is actually a pretty kick-ass pair of IEMs.