[Devon8822]

I have a cheap pair of headphones that have an extremely long cable, so I decided to try and shorten it. I cut a big chunk out as well as the volume control, and attempted to connect it back together but failed. theres two sides on the cable, one for each earphone speaker. each side has 2 wires. so four wires all together. I connected them back up the way they were by wrapping the cut ends together, and it did not work. How can I fix these? thanks

 

[Devon8822]

bump?

 

[rds]

You need to be more specific. If you post some pictures of the cables I'm sure people here will people able to help you out.
Basically the answer to your question right now is 'wire it correctly'

 

[Devon8822]

Here it is... I cut off the volume control as well. How do I connect these so they work?

 

[synaesthetic]

It's easier to just cut off as much as you want to shorten it from the plug end, and then put a new plug on it, than it is to splice lacquered wires together. Looks much nicer also.

 

[gz76]

Yeah, looks like you'll need to strip some of that enamel off the wires, which is currently insulating the wires when they're twisted together.

 

[Devon8822]

enamel? how can i do that?

if i use solder around them will that work?

 

[el_matt0]

yes, the color is enamel. tin your iron with solder, touch it to the tip of the exposed ends of each wire to tin them. this will melt back the enamel and expose a conductive surface (you can verify this with your DMM if you wish to do so). Then just simply touch the 2 "tinned" and prepared wire ends together with a soldering iron, and it will melt them together nicely, in what should be a very solid, conductive join. Good luck, feel free to PM if you have any more questions. And FYI, one on each channel is the signal, and the other wire is the ground.

 

[MisterX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devon8822 /img/forum/go_quote.gif enamel? how can i do that?

Do you have a bic lighter handy?

 

[Devon8822]

Done! it works... however it is a bit quiet... not that it was terribly loud before either... is there any way I can mod this thing to go louder?

 

[el_matt0]

hmm. well the only thing I could guess is that there might be some in line resistance built in, removing it would "make it louder". but FWIW I dont know of many stock cables that come pre-attenuated like that.

 

[el_matt0]

other than that....to make them "louder" = amplifier?