[drubrew]

Bad idea. It will be hard to heat up the pins to melt the solder while pushing the wire in. There is also a chance that if you don’t push in just right, one of the wire standings may hit the side and spread out. Unless it is solid core wire. 18awg is about the limit of the hole. I don’t know if I would even tin, as it may not fit in the hole then. Make sure to twist the strands to get them as tight as possible if you are going to tin. Then stick in half way. Then dab some solder at the end point of the connector while pushing the cable in. Or better yet don’t tin anything, and just solder at the butt of the connector. If you heat the pins too long it will melt the Plastic mold. It is a balancing act.

 

[scootermafia]

You want to stick the solder end in the cup then use high heat to stick the wire to the cup side then tin where the wire goes in to the side of the cup. Don't heat for too long like 5 seconds max and cool the connector with a fan between attempt or else melt it. That's how I do it.

 

[HiFi1972]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm definitely going to think about this a bit more. A lot of fun though, haha.

Just by looking at the connectors, it looks like they'll heat up really fast (based on past experiences soldering cups on XLR connectors, which are a bit thicker). I may just stick some solder in the cup and put the solder tip for a couple of seconds while regulating my temperature to see where it needs to be (while giving the connector time to cool off in between, of course).

Also, when I said earlier that the 18awg wire fit perfectly, I had already twisted it as tight as I could and tinned it (sorry for leaving that out).

 

[scootermafia]

Edit: if it fits perfectly while tinned, just heat the cup, and the tin will probably goo it onto the side, then just bridge it onto the topside of the connector too.

Yeah, just make sure what's holding your connector isn't pointy so it doesn't leave marks. There's really nothing too it, I quite enjoy soldering Cardas connectors, done a bunch of them and it's only really scary the first time. Having a pretty fine solder tip is handy, and certainly the left side is easier as you don't have to hold your right hand at an awkward angle. Just get some pretty fine solder, tin your wire slightly. Then stick the solder end into the cup, and touch the iron to the side, rhodium is insanely conductive which can be a curse as it dispels heat fast onto the plastic, but the plastic is fairly resilient. 6 seconds max then take a break, you could probably shoot it with upside down cans of compressed air to quick-chill it. The solder will easily melt into the cup at least where you have the iron, and you can move the iron tip around to guide the solder - it naturally goes where there's heat. After you take a cooling break, pretty easy to add some extra solder to bridge the side edge of the wire before it enters the cup to the side of the cup for good measure. Then, the wire isn't going anywhere. Then, my personal favorite part - filling that person with hot glue. I'll say this, you'd need some he man strength to rip a cardas connector off once it's really on. If you are using 18g cable that's really uber thick, and probably not suitable for interconnects. Lawton audio has the same impression with Jena 18g, saying it was unrefined in its sound for Senn cables and that they prefer 22g. I personally like 22-24awg wire best - decently pliable but not spaghetti like 26awg tends to be. 26awg is fine though, although it's my limit on size. I was kinda hopeful that the Cardas connector would be open on the top rather than being a cup (like an RCA plug's center pin solder point) but it is a smart design in that it holds the wire captive, I somewhat hate soldering 1/4" jacks just because holding the wire in place is tricky, getting a good joint in there.

 

[cannesahs]

1mm^2 cable fits.

 

[Morfesto]

Does anyone know if this would fit the HD 555?

Cardas HPSC Plugs for DIY Sennheiser Headphone Cables - eBay (item 250393843468 end time Apr-20-09 15:36:58 PDT)

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morfesto /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does anyone know if this would fit the HD 555? Cardas HPSC Plugs for DIY Sennheiser Headphone Cables - eBay (item 250393843468 end time Apr-20-09 15:36:58 PDT)

The 555 uses a single sided cable so you would need a single plug with 3-4 pins.
So, no.

http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite...15_555_595.pdf

 

[Morfesto]

If you look at this PDF it looks like stacking the two plugs one top of each other would work... if they are thin enough.

http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser...ontage_eng.pdf

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morfesto /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you look at this PDF it looks like stacking the two plugs one top of each other would work... if they are thin enough. http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser...ontage_eng.pdf

Interesting. I haven't had that model apart before, but it looks like it could work.
At it's thickest point the Cardas plug is 1/4".
Got enough room?

 

[drubrew]

These are the models that the Sennheiser Cardas Plugs will fit. They are now $16 instead of $32. And we are fully stocked.

HD25, HD265, HD445, HD525, HD535, HD545, HD565, HD580, HD600, HD650

For the HD555 I would do away with the internal 4 pin connector and rewire straight to the driver and then tie the other 2 conductors to the wires that go through the headband to the other chamber. The less junk in the path the better. Try and use a quad 4 cable. Moving the shared ground point as far away from the drivers will insure less chance of amp oscillation.

Hope this helps.

 

[scootermafia]

Yeah, shared ground points are fail. I double entried my F1s and my Beyers.

 

[HiFi1972]

Finally got a chance to complete my cable, and this is how it went for me:

I used the conical tip that came with one of my Weller irons for the Cardas connectors. I use the entry-level Weller soldering station and set the temperature to "3" (have no idea what that actually means in watts/temperature).

I ended up putting the cardas solder in each cup and it took about 2 seconds for the solder to melt. I put a tiny bit in each cup. My teflon-coated wires would not fit in the connectors, so I stripped and shrink-tubed each wire first and they fit perfectly. Then I placed the iron tip on each cup and slid each tinned wire into place, again, a couple of seconds is all it took and noticed that the plastic on the connectors became real pliable. The connectors' shapes got a little distorted with the heat, but after they cooled off, they seemed to regain their shape. I actually broke a little sweat doing this and while I don't consider myself a great solderer, you have to have some skills in this department to pull this off, IMO.

So far, I'm pretty much blown away with the sound of the cable!

 

[musicmaker]

Good stuff ! BTW, what kind of wire did you use ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiFi1972 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Finally got a chance to complete my cable, and this is how it went for me: I used the conical tip that came with one of my Weller irons for the Cardas connectors. I use the entry-level Weller soldering station and set the temperature to "3" (have no idea what that actually means in watts/temperature). I ended up putting the cardas solder in each cup and it took about 2 seconds for the solder to melt. I put a tiny bit in each cup. My teflon-coated wires would not fit in the connectors, so I stripped and shrink-tubed each wire first and they fit perfectly. Then I placed the iron tip on each cup and slid each tinned wire into place, again, a couple of seconds is all it took and noticed that the plastic on the connectors became real pliable. The connectors' shapes got a little distorted with the heat, but after they cooled off, they seemed to regain their shape. I actually broke a little sweat doing this and while I don't consider myself a great solderer, you have to have some skills in this department to pull this off, IMO. So far, I'm pretty much blown away with the sound of the cable!

 

[HiFi1972]

I Litz braided 4 strands of 18awg SPC, teflon-coated wire. Sleeved with techflex, used a Qables y-splitter and a Furutech 1/4" plug. The cable is not at all comfortable, but I use it when mastering audio as a second reference to my B&Ws, so for my purposes, they're okay since I'm sitting in one place and just have to position the cable (about 4 feet in length) in a way that provides the most comfort for me, but to give you an idea, if I move my head off to the sides, my 650s don't follow me all the way, lol.

I may do another cable, this time with Star Quad to see if there's a difference in sound, because I'm almost sure it will be way more comfortable. I need to find something to store these in though, they no longer fit in the original box my 650s came in, so if anyone's got any ideas for that, please let me know.

 

[scootermafia]

18g is way too big, I wonder how you even managed to terminate that...a 26g cable might be a bit more pliable.