[tjdub]

Can anyone recommend a good quality silver wire to make a headphone cable that doesn't cost an arm and a leg pleaswe?

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Unfortunately because of current metal prices it's going to be very difficult to find low cost high purity silver wire. You'd want stranded wire for flexibility. I'd personally use this myself: https://www.partsconnexion.com/NEOTECH-79528.html

...maybe wait for a 25% off sale.

 

[Aye75]

Can anyone recommend a good quality silver wire to make a headphone cable that doesn't cost an arm and a leg pleaswe?

probably you could try - https://www.partsconnexion.com/DUELUND-81389.html

it's currently at 50%. Only drawback imho is it's a solid core which may make the final product a bit stiff. But I used this before for IEM cable and still acceptable depending on your design. To keep the cost low, I mixed it with copper.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Solid core wire can eventually break over time if it's bent in the same place (think of a copper hanger, just very thin). It's perfectly suitable for hook up wire and interconnects/speaker wire that isn't being moved frequently, but I wouldn't personally use it for headphone cables. Stranded silver is usually 7 strands, so if one broke it's not going to cause intermittent continuance. Obviously you are welcome to do whatever you like, I'm just trying to prevent an expensive loss.

 

[Aye75]

Solid core wire can eventually break over time if it's bent in the same place (think of a copper hanger, just very thin). It's perfectly suitable for hook up wire and interconnects/speaker wire that isn't being moved frequently, but I wouldn't personally use it for headphone cables. Stranded silver is usually 7 strands, so if one broke it's not going to cause intermittent continuance. Obviously you are welcome to do whatever you like, I'm just trying to prevent an expensive loss.

Great advice. I haven't been using the cables mentioned for too long hence not to sure of the durability. thanks for your input.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Aye75, If you add some extra heatshrink over the full cable length it will make it a little more stiff but should help it to last longer

 

[screwdriver]

can nayone point me to a person who can re terminate a headphone cable from 1/4 amp end termination to a XLR 4 pin termination? is this even do able?

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

can nayone point me to a person who can re terminate a headphone cable from 1/4 amp end termination to a XLR 4 pin termination? is this even do able?

It depends. If there are four wires in the cable (a positive and negative going to each each earcup) then no problem. If there are three, you need to replace the cable for balanced. If the cable is aftermarket like one of mine, it will come with 4 wires. If it's stock, there is a good chance it has three wires as that is cheaper to make.

Which headphone/cable is it?

 

[screwdriver]

silver dragon moon audio

 

[gruedude]

I'm interested in making a female 4 pin xlr to banana plugs cable but I'm a total noob at this. Do I just connect the left + pin from the xlr to the wire running to the left + banana plug, the left - pin to the left - banana, and so on and so forth?

 

[TrollDragon]

I'm interested in making a female 4 pin xlr to banana plugs cable but I'm a total noob at this. Do I just connect the left + pin from the xlr to the wire running to the left + banana plug, the left - pin to the left - banana, and so on and so forth?

Yes. I assume you are hooking this to a speaker amplifier so you want to make sure you keep all the +/- separate (a pair of wires going to each cup). Most power amplifiers do not share a common ground on the speaker posts, so I would check that with an ohm meter before you try plugging any single ended headphones to your cable.

With the power off and amp unplugged measure the resistance between the left and right speaker - posts, if it's close to 0 ohms then you are good to use single ended connections (L+, R+ and a common -) with your amp. If it measure much higher then never bridge the posts.

 

[elira]

Is there a good right angle 4.4mm connector? I tried the ones from QYFANG and they were kind of bad with poor fitting.

 

[doctorjuggles]

Is there a good right angle 4.4mm connector? I tried the ones from QYFANG and they were kind of bad with poor fitting.

Sorry, ignore me. Read this incorrectly

 

[mauiatheart]

Planning on putting together my first set of headphone cables. Kind of nervous. Trying to get the biggest list of things to avoid so I don't screw anything up. Looking through this topic is a little daunting with 679 pages. Is there anyone who can summarize the things to try to avoid doing?

 

[Chuck Dee]

Make sure you PLAN the build process.

i.e make sure you have placed connector housings, pieces of heatshrink etc on the cables to be terminated before you start soldering.
There's nothing worse than realising you made a nice neat termination of a 4 pole miniXLR and realsing you forget to place the rear part of the shell on the cable before doing so. Ask me how I know this. I'll never get that time back.

Also, when it comes to cable -measure twice, cut once.

Always be testing for continuity when progressing through connectors with multiple terminations, XLR's, DIN plugs etc.

Don't be afraid to canvas advice from the forum if you get stuck!

Good luck.