[Allanmarcus]

For a regular unbalanced headphone cable, TRS to mini-XLR, how should the wires and shield of a star quad cable be connected?

cut the shield off. It's not used for a headphone cable. By "cut off", I mean just trim the shield off the part of the cable you expose to attach the connectors.

You can use three or four of the wires. One to each positive, and one to two to the common.

 

[itsikhefez]

This is a cable I recently built for my ZMF's.
Its pretty basic but I like how things came together in a clean way.
Cable is Canare L-4E6S Star Quad, Furutech FT-610mf 4 pin mini-XLR, and Neutrik 4pin XLR.
550 paracord on the L/R twisted pairs and some heat shrink on the connectors for extra strain relief.

I have ordered samples of many 4 conductor/star quad cables and found that the Canare is one of the best to work with. I especially like how the individual strands after the Y easily form into 2 twisted pairs.
One thing I would do differently next time is get one of those Y split from plussound shown here recently.

cut the shield off. It's not used for a headphone cable. By "cut off", I mean just trim the shield off the part of the cable you expose to attach the connectors.
You can use three or four of the wires. One to each positive, and one to two to the common.

I actually did use the shield on the star quad. For this cable, I connected it to the ground lug. Based on things I've read elsewhere, I don't see why a shield on the source side would hurt anything. If anything, shouldn't it provide RFI protection?

 

[Allanmarcus]

I actually did use the shield on the star quad. For this cable, I connected it to the ground lug. Based on things I've read elsewhere, I don't see why a shield on the source side would hurt anything. If anything, shouldn't it provide RFI protection?

it should not hurt on the source side. as for RFI rejection, maybe. possibly.

 

[imas69]

Could anyone please tell me the correct way to wire 2x 2.5mm jacks to a single 6.5mm jack for a Sennheiser HD700 cable.
Thanks in advance.

 

[itsikhefez]

Could anyone please tell me the correct way to wire 2x 2.5mm jacks to a single 6.5mm jack for a Sennheiser HD700 cable.
Thanks in advance.

On the headphone side:
For L/R, solder signal to tip and ground to sleeve.

On TRS jack side:
Tip - left signal
Ring - right signal
Sleeve - ground of both sides.

 

[imas69]

Thanks very much, I am using starquad cable so I have 2 positive and 2 minus with no sleeve, does this mean that I can just join the two wire together to make one signal wire for
each side.

 

[itsikhefez]

Thanks very much, I am using starquad cable so I have 2 positive and 2 minus with no sleeve, does this mean that I can just join the two wire together to make one signal wire for
each side.

No, because you need 2 conductors for each side.
If using star quad, that means that you would use 2 whites for L+/L-, 2 blues for R+/R- and on the TRS side one white to tip (the L+), one blue to ring (the R+) and then the remaining white and blue to the sleeve. You can optionally also connect the shield to the sleeve along with the L-/R-. (The colors in this example are for Canare cable)

Unless, you are planning to join both whites for L+, both blues for R+, and then retain the shield and split it so that half goes to L and half goes to right.

 

[imas69]

Amazing, thank you so much

 

[Bob A (SD)]

Well my supplies for my DIY HD580/650 headphone cable have arrived (Mogami W2944 wire, 1/8" Techflex, Neutrik 1/4" plug, Senn connectors, and pants boot). OMG this stuff is small compared to the RCA interconnects I previously built. Picture shows both to illustrate the size difference. LOL

I intend to slow twist the pair of twin lead wire using the red for the right and black for the left. Jacket it with the Techflex that will also jacket the individual leads to the headphone connectors. Tiny 26 AWG stuff is delicate so stripping the shielding, tinning, and soldering will require a deft touch. This is new territory for me as I've not used this small a gauge before except for wire wrapping.

 

[exze]

I'm finally getting around to rewiring a pair of Grado 225's with a badly cracked cable. Since I need 8 wires total, will the same Mogami 2534 quad cable work if it's doubled up and braided until the Y connector? Or would you suggest a different direction?

Also do you have any tips on how to connect 8 cables to a 1/4 jack? It's been about 4 years since I've been able to use these headphones, would love to get them going again.

 

[wormsdriver]

I'm finally getting around to rewiring a pair of Grado 225's with a badly cracked cable. Since I need 8 wires total, will the same Mogami 2534 quad cable work if it's doubled up and braided until the Y connector? Or would you suggest a different direction?

Also do you have any tips on how to connect 8 cables to a 1/4 jack? It's been about 4 years since I've been able to use these headphones, would love to get them going again.

Just a head's up, you dont need to recable them with 8 conductors again. The 4 conductors on the Mogami 2534 will do nicely.

Also, you now have an easy option to make your Grados have a detachable cable with an aftermarket kit from Beautiful Audio. It might be more than what your willing to spend though, since you need to buy a kit and you still need to make/get a cable.

 

[wolkegeist]

Has anyone ever tried Nordost flatline cable? I'm ordering some cable and hopping I can rip it into a 3-strands ribbon and make a 6-strands IEM cable. I'm just wondering is it possible to split nordost flatline into smaller ribbons?

 

[Bob A (SD)]

"Has anyone ever tried Nordost flatline cable?"

I've had Nordost Gold Flatline Mk II cables for my speakers since 2000 but have never ever considered them for what you're asking about.

 

[Monsterzero]

Question:

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD250s that I'd like to make a better cable for. Do I need to contact Sennheiser to get the connectors,or is there an online shop that carries various proprietary connectors?

 

[exze]

Just a head's up, you dont need to recable them with 8 conductors again. The 4 conductors on the Mogami 2534 will do nicely.

Also, you now have an easy option to make your Grados have a detachable cable with an aftermarket kit from Beautiful Audio. It might be more than what your willing to spend though, since you need to buy a kit and you still need to make/get a cable.

Good to know - going to make things much easier, thanks!