[Paladin79]

  I quite like how starquad and amphenol looks like so i think to buy them then
 
 

I use the Canare, Mogami, and Belden star quads and it is hard to go wrong with any of those. Amphenol makes some very good 1/4 inch connectors now as well. I generally use those or Neutrik (REAN).

 

[nsge]

  I use the Canare, Mogami, and Belden star quads and it is hard to go wrong with any of those. Amphenol makes some very good 1/4 inch connectors now as well. I generally use those or Neutrik (REAN).

I wanted to buy Neutrik but amphenol has little gap so I can use this mini jack with my phone with case.

 

[Paladin79]

  I wanted to buy Neutrik but amphenol has little gap so I can use this mini jack with my phone with case.

Yep, it is why I went to those connectors myself. They have an extension that allows them to be hooked to devices in cases. I have used that particular type of connector for over a year with no failures. 

 

[nsge]

Well I was using stock cable and mini jack for past 5 years but yesterday one insulating ring on jack "disappeared" when I tried to get out mini jack from soundcard cuz it was stuck but I finally got it out without one insulating ring... and some people said that mini jack without  it can damage soundcard. Dont know if is true tho :d
 
Does it ever happened to you?

 

[Paladin79]

I have seen that happen with a few 3.5 mm plugs but never with Neutrik or Amphenol in approximately 11 years and my people send out around thirty 3.5 mm cables a week. It depends on which ring you lost. The one between the tip and ring should not hurt anything. If it was the one between the ring and ground (sleeve) I would not use that connector again if I could avoid it. You could easily take the right channel to ground if not careful.

 

[nsge]

Bottom one. Dont know which one is it.
 
Edit: I googled. Its the one between sleeve and ring

 

[Paladin79]

The second one back from the tip is the worst one to lose in my opinion so try to avoid using it. I hope you did not damage the jack in the sound card getting it out. Try a different cable if you can.

 

[nsge]

Headphones works just fine, soundcard too but insulating ring is missing from mini jack.
 
Edit: but what if i use this: http://wireessence.com/wp-content/themes/wireessence/img/pages/realizacje/przedluzacz_minijack.jpg to connect headphones to soundcard? Is it going to work just fine or I can still damage headphones/soundcard?

 

[Hakase]

So I'm making my own cable and it's for my AKG's and I wanted to make it with the connector being a 3.5mm jack. So it should go 3 pin mini xlr to 3.5mm jack but I'm not sure what 3.5mm connector I need to buy. Does it need to be like this:
 

 
 
or can it be like this:
 

 
Sorry if this has already been asked before. Any suggestions would be great

 

[Paladin79]

The top connector is stereo, trs (tip ring sleeve), the bottom is mono TS (tip sleeve). I am not real familiar with those headphones but if you are planning on plugging the 3.5 mm into a device then it should be stereo like the top connector. The top connector also has an extended tip that helps if you are plugging into a smart phone or table that is in a case. That being said, I am not sure if the top connector has solder lugs inside, if not I prefer connectors like Amphenol:
 

 

[Allanmarcus]

  So I'm making my own cable and it's for my AKG's and I wanted to make it with the connector being a 3.5mm jack. So it should go 3 pin mini xlr to 3.5mm jack but I'm not sure what 3.5mm connector I need to buy. Does it need to be like this:
 

 
 
or can it be like this:
 

 
Sorry if this has already been asked before. Any suggestions would be great

Be very careful with LunaShops. I've ordered from them before, and was never happy with the results. Their stuff is very cheap, and in one case, useless. The 3.5mm mono jacks I ordered had no threads to connect the plastic shell to the plug.
 
I think you want to know which plug to use on the end of the cable that doesn't plug into the headphones, right? Assuming you want a 3.5mm jack, you need a stereo one, which has the three connections (the pic on the top). There are many places to get a jack other than LunaShops. This one from Markertek is a good, basic quality jack, but might have issues if you are plugging into a phone with a case.

 

[uncola]

dumb question..  but with a 2 conductor shield+drain wire cable.. is it usually best to use 1 conductor for positive pin, 1 conductor twisted together with drain wire for shield.  or can I twist together 2 conductors for the positive pin and just use the drain wire for ground/shield?  talking about rca cables and this bulk cable http://www.partsconnexion.com/wire_interc_connex.html#

 

[Paladin79]

  dumb question..  but with a 2 conductor shield+drain wire cable.. is it usually best to use 1 conductor for positive pin, 1 conductor twisted together with drain wire for shield.  or can I twist together 2 conductors for the positive pin and just use the drain wire for ground/shield?  talking about rca cables and this bulk cable http://www.partsconnexion.com/wire_interc_connex.html#

This conversation may end up getting tricky but here goes. In my experience it is best to use one conductor for positive on both ends, that is the easy part. Now from all I have read, and from personal experience and personal testing, I attach the shield and second conductor to ground only on one end when using that type of cable. Otherwise you have two grounds and run the risk of creating a ground loop. The cable is then directional and you would mark an arrow on one end indicating signal flow. I have read differing opinions about this but most often I read that you should go from the source end with the ground with two conductors. The other end has just a hot and ground and the shield does not touch the ground but still runs along the cable for shielding purposes. Some people refer to these as balanced rca connections but there is not a whole lot of info out there. I personally use them on my main setup and have them running to three amps, switchbox, a dac, turntable, turntable preamp, etc. Just be sure to remember which end is which and mark that end accordingly.

 

[uncola]

Thanks paladin that makes sense to me.

 

[Paladin79]

Thanks paladin that makes sense to me.

Unfortunately I have to concern myself with such things because my people send cables all over the country that are being used with balanced or unbalanced systems. We have to build cables on a daily basis for the end user who wants to hook his mixing board (balanced) to some home audio device that is unbalanced. More than once I have had to tell people to lift a shield wire on one end of a cable to solve an issue so I tend to read any info I can lay my hands on. I generally tape off the unconnected shield or add some heat shrink tubing so that it is insulated but available for future use in case you wanted use the cable for say two three pin XLR's.