[Stikk]

Hello everyone,

I have an old pair of headphones, they're Sony MDR-V700DJs and, if I'm honest, not really worth re-cabling. They're broken (ironically, I broke them trying to save them from breaking.. Long story) so I will need to do some repair work to get these working again. But really, I just wanna practice on some old cans first up before I recable anything of importance. Anyway, I need some help from you experienced DIY-ers as I am new to this whole game...

I got as far as to dismantle said cans and select the cable they will be recabled with.. Here is my problem.. Each driver has 3 solder pads on it and I don't know what they do.. I will let the pictures tell the story:

Left side:

Right side:

It appears 3 wires come out of the main cable (red/green/black) which I assume are Left/Right/Ground. Then they are all soldered to the left driver and then two of them go into the headband and over to the right driver.. No problem, right? Well here's where I get confused:

On the left driver, the far left pad is the ground and the middle pad is the signal. On the right driver, the far left pad appears to be the signal and the middle pad is the ground.. Which is backwards from the left side.. Why would this be? They are the same driver, surely, but they appear to be wired differently.. Does it even matter which way around I wire them? Is it possible they have always been wired wrong and I should fix them during my recable?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and sorry for writing an essay

 

[Zorander]

Left side:
Red wire: right signal
Green wire: left signal
Black wire: common ground

For the right side, testing with multi-meter is the most sure-proof way of determining which wires are for signal/ground, which I suppose you have done and which yielded the findings you have written. I had a similar experience with a pair of cans I re-cabled and, against my better judgement, wired the side the way I believed it should be. It does not sound quite right (but not terribly wrong either) but I know now that the manufacturer had wired that side correctly (if unconventionally). My advice: if both sides of your phones sound 'correct' in the first place, stick to the original wiring config. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Cheers!

 

[Stikk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorander /img/forum/go_quote.gif Left side: Red wire: right signal Green wire: left signal Black wire: common ground For the right side, testing with multi-meter is the most sure-proof way of determining which wires are for signal/ground, which I suppose you have done and which yielded the findings you have written. I had a similar experience with a pair of cans I re-cabled and, against my better judgement, wired the side the way I believed it should be. It does not sound quite right (but not terribly wrong either) but I know now that the manufacturer had wired that side correctly (if unconventionally). My advice: if both sides of your phones sound 'correct' in the first place, stick to the original wiring config. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Cheers!

Thanks heaps for that, Zorander, I thought the same thing.. I tested with a continuity tester but since the drivers are about 32ohms, the continuity tester didn't help. I tested the resistance using my multimeter and managed to get the results I posted above..

I'm going to recable them how they were originally cabled, as weird as it seems to me, they sounded great when I had them working (was over a year ago now!) as far as I can remember so I won't mess around..

I'm gonna change them from one cable to two cables so there's one going in each side, that won't change anything, will it?

These cans are due for a HUGE overhall, they're gonna be my project pair and by the time I'm done with them, they'll be more custom than Sony, I hope

 

[Zorander]

Single entry cables are less intrusive whereas dual-entry cables are theoretically better. I don't personally hear a difference between them but I tend to do dual-entry re-cables mostly for that piece of mind.

 

[Stikk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zorander /img/forum/go_quote.gif Single entry cables are less intrusive whereas dual-entry cables are theoretically better. I don't personally hear a difference between them but I tend to do dual-entry re-cables mostly for that piece of mind.

Thanks for that, I am planning to do dual entry for this because I think it'll be easier.. But it does mean drilling an extra hole.. Still, single entry adds another level of complexity cuz I have to figure out how to get it into the headband etc..

Thanks for your help, zorander, I'll post my results once the job is finished.. Probably won't be for a couple of weeks, though, cuz I have exams on.. Having said that, this is a fantastic displacement activity so I might knock it out in one day of my study week