[gunting]

I have the original HE-5 and want to use speaker taps to drive them. I intended to have someone create a connector to the male TRS 1/4 headphone jack and terminate in banana plugs so that I could connect to the amps outs. I was told, " You are taking a 3 contact system and turning it into a 4 contact system. As you know, you can't just create matter, likewise, you cannot create more contacts. You need the headphones to be wired to a 4 contact system, or 4-pin XLR to accomplish your task." I don't understand the concept of a 3 contact or 4 contact system.
 
How about I do this: use a stereo 1/4 inch TRS female/Male XLR jack, and plug the headphone jack into one side of this connector and plug the male XLR end of this jack into the Hifiman HE speaker adapter box (which has a female XLR input)? I would then use ordinary speaker cable between this Hifiman speaker adapter box and the outputs from an integrated amp. Would this approach accomplish my goal of running the HE-5 headphones from the speaker taps of an amp? 

 

[rawrster]

You have a Hifiman so the first step is a balanced cable terminated in a 4 pin xlr. then you would get a 4 pin xlr to banana taps adapter. Alternatively you could buy the speaker adapter from Hifiman instead of the xlr to banana taps but the balanced cable is needed.

 

[gunting]

Thank you for your response. Do the other Hifiman models (e.g., HE-6) come standard with the balanced cable?