[Danneq]

You should warm the cover with hairdryer first then it should easily come off. Can you take closer pictures of the area you want to open up please? That would be more helpful for us to see how they are put together.

Thanks. I'll buy a new cable from Ali express and then give the hairdryer a go.

Too late to take a new photo but I marked the lid/hatch with a red circle.

The small hole inside the yellow circle is probably a small "thing" that locks the lid/hatch in place. It appears to have broken off on my pair of Aiwa V99 (Aiwa D9 is pretty much identical to V99 and my D9 look just fine).



I'll try to get a picture up that I have taken myself (I found this one online...)

 

[purplesun]

  Does anyone know how to "open up" plastic that has been glued together?
I'm thinking of using a thin razor and cut along the edges of the lid/hatch but that might not be enough.
I got some good advice, like using a hair dryer to make the glue warm and easier to get through.

 
Probably not relevant in this case. If it's for items that are impervious to water damage, than a couple of hot water soaks should get normal adhesives to be quite pliable. But, for your case, it will be a completely dead driver. Same theory as the hair dryer but better heat transfer. Maybe an idea for other applications.

 

[ozkan]

Thanks. I'll buy a new cable from Ali express and then give the hairdryer a go.


Too late to take a new photo but I marked the lid/hatch with a red circle.


The small hole inside the yellow circle is probably a small "thing" that locks the lid/hatch in place. It appears to have broken off on my pair of Aiwa V99 (Aiwa D9 is pretty much identical to V99 and my D9 look just fine).





I'll try to get a picture up that I have taken myself (I found this one online...)

I guess you need to remove the ring around the driver and then you'll be able to reach the cables. The cable should be able to come off from the shell after soldering.

Look what I've found.

http://www.imp3.net/article-29519-2.html
http://www.jd-bbs.com/thread-4991516-1-1.html

 

[Danneq]

Thanks for the links.

Actually I did open the front up. I could see that the previous owner cut the wires from the driver (about 2 cm) and then soldered the new cable onto the old wires from the driver.

But it seems like he used glue to get the new cable to become stuck inside the housings. I think I'll first cut the wires to the driver to remove them and then use a hairdryer to warm up the glue and try to open up the lid/hatch. Then try to pull out the old cable.

I think I will need access to the lid/hatch when I insert the new cable and pull the cable through the stress relief.

Once the new cable has been inserted into the housing it's an easy job to solder the wires to the old wires on the driver. I would prefer to not solder directly on the drivers so I will do it the same way as the previous owner...

I looked through links earlier in this thread. Here's a good one:
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/headphones.html

 

[Danneq]

In the worst case I could put the drivers in another housing, but I want the Aiwa drivers to stay in Aiwa housings, so that's not an option...

 

[purplesun]

  In the worst case I could put the drivers in another housing, but I want the Aiwa drivers to stay in Aiwa housings, so that's not an option...

 
Looks like there's a thin groove along the hatch perimeter, where it seals shut.
 
Use a needle as applicator and run it, dipped with cleaning alcohol or nail polish remover, along the hatch perimeter groove. That should breakdown the adhesive quite fast, if it makes contact.
 
WARNING!! Check first, that the alcohol or nail polish remover does not react with AIWA case plastic!!

 

[ozkan]

Thanks for the links.


Actually I did open the front up. I could see that the previous owner cut the wires from the driver (about 2 cm) and then soldered the new cable onto the old wires from the driver.


But it seems like he used glue to get the new cable to become stuck inside the housings. I think I'll first cut the wires to the driver to remove them and then use a hairdryer to warm up the glue and try to open up the lid/hatch. Then try to pull out the old cable.


I think I will need access to the lid/hatch when I insert the new cable and pull the cable through the stress relief.


Once the new cable has been inserted into the housing it's an easy job to solder the wires to the old wires on the driver. I would prefer to not solder directly on the drivers so I will do it the same way as the previous owner...


I looked through links earlier in this thread. Here's a good one:
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/headphones.html

I would never blow hot air to the shell without removing the driver since there is a high risk of damaging the driver. Don't worry mate, soldering the driver is so easy if your hands don't shake. You can practice on some cheap or broken earphones and after some experience you can solder your Aiwa V99.

 

[ozkan]

Looks like there's a thin groove along the hatch perimeter, where it seals shut.

Use a needle as applicator and run it, dipped with cleaning alcohol or nail polish remover, along the hatch perimeter groove. That should breakdown the adhesive quite fast, if it makes contact.

WARNING!! Check first, that the alcohol or nail polish remover does not react with AIWA case plastic!!

The best way is warming the case and it will come off easily. I got this information from my friend who repairs earphones/headphones and IEMs.

 

[Danneq]

Thanks for your help.

I'll go the hairdryer route first (and of course remove the drivers first!)

A guy here on Head fi sent me a photo of his friend's Aiwa V99 where you can see the lid/hatch removed.

 

[Danneq]

Did some unplanned soldering on one of the Aiwa V99 drivers yesterday. I opened the front up to check out how the cable might be removed (there seems to be some glue applied behind the drivers as well - the hairdryer will have to do a lot of work!).
When I gently pulled out the left driver the negative wire came off. Left channel had been slightly more quiet since I got the V99, so it must have just been waiting to happen.

I thought, "What the heck?, Why not give it a try?", and took out my soldering iron. I carefully heated the soldering on the driver and managed to push the wire down and make it stick. I could hear sound out of the left channel, so I put everything together but when I listened more I noticed that the wire wasn't making perfect contact with the driver since sound was coming and going in on the left side. So I opened the left side up again and heated the soldering with the iron until the wire came off. I did it again so that the wire was more stuck than before. This time it sounded good and now the volume balance between left and right is perfect.

Phew!

I have soldered replacement plugs before but never directly on a driver.

 

 

[gwompki]

That's great! No better way to learn than to jump right in eh?

 

[vapman]

Good stuff Danneq! Really glad to hear that your Aiwa are singing again

 
I highly recommend the Sony Ericsson HPM-62 for recabling practice, at least while they're still under $5 shipped a piece btw!

 

[Danneq]

  Good stuff Danneq! Really glad to hear that your Aiwa are singing again

 
I highly recommend the Sony Ericsson HPM-62 for recabling practice, at least while they're still under $5 shipped a piece btw!

I was actually planning on praticing on a pair of broken Sony MDR-E484 (left driver dead). Of course it's more daring to practice on a $300+ vintage earbud to be able to solder on a $400+ vintage earbud...

 

[Ira Delphic]

What are the cost of components for high end earbuds? My observations, assumptions and questions. Please correct me where I'm wrong:
 
Cable - cables can cost over $100 but like the monster cable there's really not much difference between a $10 silver coated cable and a $100 cable aside from aesthetics, etc. 
 
Shell - generic earbud plastic shell cost around $1. 
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/DIY-ear-ear-PK1-2-3-4-shell-cavity-fever-ears-headphones-hifi-headphones-bass-PK/323026_32348950463.html
Custom injection molding costs much more and requires a big production run to get the per unit cost down. With 3D printing,  custom plastic shells can be created for 10x the cost of mass produced is my guesstimate.
 
Sound dampening material - for tuning, less than $1 per earbud?
 
Driver - the most important component. Very good single dynamic drivers cost $10 or less.
In high end earbuds specialty drivers are used. Do makers of high end DIY earbuds design and manufacture their own drivers? 
Manufacturing - in low quantities, the cost must be significant.
 
Tuning and design - perhaps the most important attribute and difficult to put quantify in terms of cost.
 
Resistors and Capacitors - I'm not sure if used in earbuds.
 
Manufacturing - the cost for low volume custom /DIY it must be high relative to component cost. But for DIY projects there is no "cost" because building the earbud is actually fun, hence this thread.

 

[gwompki]

So I have three Philips she3800 inbound along with 4 cables, couple of drivers, and some shells. Thinking I will experiment on swapping the cable on the Philips first before I tackle the others. I'm sure it will be at least 3 weeks before any of it shows up though.